Park Avenue West Tower

The Park Avenue West Tower is a Contemporary skyscraper designed by TVA Architects, and built between 2008 and 2016, for a reported $141 million dollars, in Portland, OR.

Park Avenue West Tower is not the only name you might know this building by though. The building is, or has also been known as Moyer Tower.

Its precise street address is 725 Southwest 9th Avenue, Portland, OR. You can also find it on the map here.

The Park Avenue West Tower has received multiple architecture awards for its architectural design since 2016. The following is a list of such prizes and awards:

• AIA Portland Mayors Award in 2016
• Top Project Runner Up — DJC Oregon in 2017

The construction of the tower began in 2008 but was halted in 2009 due to a lack of funds, leaving a deep hole in the city center. In 2013, with a new loan, the developers were able to resume construction, which was completed in 2016.

TVA Architects was the architecture firm in charge of the architectural design.

That being said, architecture is a complex discipline involving many professionals from different fields, without whom this building would have not been possible. We will surely be leaving out a lot of names here, but here is a list of the people we do know also played their part in making the Park Avenue West Tower a reality:

• KPFF Consulting Engineers in charge of Structural Engineering
• Hoffman Construction as the Main Contractor
• TMT Development as the Main Developer

The Park Avenue West Tower can be categorized as a Contemporary building.

The Park Avenue West Tower uses a frame structure made of a concrete core with steel frame columns and poured concrete over metal decking slabs.

A frame structure uses a combination of beams and columns to sustain the building's weight. The walls in this case are non-load bearing, which allows for more flexibility when distributing the interior spaces.

The facade uses a non-load bearing curtain wall system. This means the curtain wall modules are anchored to the building's structural frame, typically by being attached to the edge of the floor slabs. The curtain wall system connects to the slabs using brackets, anchors, and mullions, which transfer the loads imposed by wind and temperature changes, to the building's primary structural elements.

This setup allows the curtain wall to accommodate differential movement between the facade and the structural frame, such as thermal expansion, floor deflection, or sway from wind forces. This system's integration with the slab edges also allows for continuous insulation and weatherproofing layers.

From an aesthetic point of view, the facade features blue-tinted reflective glass adorned with metallic horizontal bands at the level of the false ceiling.

The multi-level mechanical penthouse is crowned with metal panels as the exterior cladding.