University of Oregon Acoustic Research Lab (OARL)

The University of Oregon Oregon Acoustic Lab (OARL) and associated Energy Studies in Buildings Laboratory (ESBL) is a mass timber building designed for the University of Oregon in partnership with the Oregon Mass Timber Coalition and located at the Port of Portland's Terminal Two Mass Timber Innovation Campus.  The OARL is designed to support research necessary to advance the use of mass timber in multi-family housing throughout North America.

The design, driven primarily by providing the necessary technical requirements of a state-of-the-art acoustic testin gchamber, expresses the industrial character of the site, and the function of the project with the materials and form. An A606 weathering steel facade, inspired by spectrograms, visually represents sound frequency's amplitude over time, allowing you to "see" sound in terms of its frequency and intensity.  The facade's chevron shaped panels are folded to create patterns that change in appearance for vehicles passing by on the nearby road, visually animating the facade's physical representation of sound, while providing an identifiable landmark at the downtown facing corner of the campus.
  
The facilities ground floor offices are clad in rough-sawn juniper harvested from Central Oregon, contributing to ongoing work to reduce juniper from the landscape and supporting habitat restoration. The OARL is specifically designed to test mass timber and its associated large-scale, heavy floor and ceiling assemblies. These new research and industry testing capacities will support increased utilization of mass-timber assemblies in low, mid, and high-rise housing and commercial buildings and provide an epicenter for materials research.
 
The OARL is a critical component of the Oregon Mass Timber Coalition's strategic vision to transform the Port of Portland's Terminal Two into a North American mass timber innovation hub. The building will be the first West Coast facility with accredited floor-ceiling testing chambers capable of delivering reliable and repeatable acoustical test results compliant for acoustic sound transmission, impact isolation, and associated testing data for industry advancement.