Civic
Redevelopment in Portland, Oregon, for Gerding/Edlen
Development Company
GeoDesign
provided geotechnical engineering services for the 16-story
condominium tower and 5-story apartment building. The project
also includes a 3-floor, below-grade parking garage beneath the
apartments. Approximately 40 feet of random fill overlies alluvial
native soils across the entire site and an approximately 100-year-old,
60-inch-diameter, masonry sewer is present at a depth of 50 feet
below the condominium tower. The condominium tower is supported on high
capacity, 11.75-inch-inside-diameter pipe piles, except in the vicinity
of the sewer pipe. To prevent damage to the sewer, high-capacity drilled
shafts support the building within 10 feet of the pipe. The apartment
building will be supported on a mat foundation. We also provided
geotechnical design recommendations for shoring the 35-foot-deep
excavation adjacent to an existing settlement-sensitive building
for use in state-of-the-art "top down" construction. Conventional
soldier pile and tieback shoring methods have been implemented at
other locations.