Grant High School Modernization
Portland, Ore.
Award of Merit
Owner: Portland Public Schools
Lead Design Firm: Mahlum Architects Inc.
General Contractor: Andersen Construction
Subcontractors: Accurate Concrete Cutting Inc.; Advanced Equipment Corp.; Amodeo Structural Engineering; Apollo Mechanical Contractors; Culver Glass Co., J&S Masonry Inc.; Larusso Concrete Inc.; Western Rebar Inc.
Nine buildings made up Portland’s Grant High School campus. The oldest dates back to the 1920s and relegated students to five unconnected basement areas for a third of their classes and meals in the cafeteria. This modernization project renovated and expanded the nearly 300,000-sq-ft campus into a modern learning environment.
The project remodeled the oldest building, gymnasium and auditorium while focusing on how the spaces within it could better serve students, faculty and the community. A seismic and facade renovation, the extension of floor plates and upgrades to the building—including solving a 4-in. difference in floor elevations from one end to the other—helped to preserve its historic character. Other nonhistoric buildings were replaced with new buildings, including a gymnasium. The project finished a day early.
