TriMet, Safety & Security Facility

Portland, Oregon

How do we design a transformable workplace that encourages engagement between staff and the community?

Man sits reading on an orange sectional sofa, while a woman descends floating stairs behind him.

FFA delivered complete design and construction administration services for a build-out / tenant improvement to house TriMet’s safety and security personnel in a new facility in Northeast Portland’s Lloyd District. To support the agency’s goal of creating a central hub for staff to recharge and connect, we created a flexible, warm, and safe work environment. Balancing safety and security concerns, we also created transformable public spaces to support the agency’s mission of engaging the community.


With these goals in mind, we designed a large, flexible Community Room. Featuring a 40-foot movable wall clad in wood slats, the space opens directly to the lobby and is easily accessible. The movable walls can be configured in multiple ways to serve staff during internal meetings and trainings, as well as allowing for a range of community-focused functions. The lobby, main collaboration areas, and the main stairway host technology features as well as wood slats walls and ceilings to dampen sound, all which advocate for easy collaboration between people.


To create an interactive work environment, we configured the space layout to spark connections between officers and administrative staff. The kitchen, lounge, and briefing room are in a central location. The areas accommodate both formal and informal meetings, staff breaks, informal workspaces and when combined, one large, connected event space.

Focusing on employee wellness, we designed the project to maximize opportunities to bring natural light deep into the space. Working with limited exterior windows, the design team moved most of the enclosed spaces deeper in the building and placing low partitioned workstations near the exterior windows.

Year Completed:
2020
Size:
17,000 sf
Project Contact:
Richard Grace, AIA, NOMA
Partner, Market Lead
Connect
A woman sits at a large, white, U-shaped conference table in a room with wood-slat walls and ceiling and sliding glass doors.
Conference Room
Two women stand on opposite sides of a kitchen island chatting with each other.
Break Room
Woman sits at one of two tables in a break room, as an officer descends the stairs to her right, and another woman is seen in a glassed-in office behind her.
The break room functions as a central hub for staff

A stacking diagram, showing the different spaces within a public safety building on both the first and second floors.

Woman in yellow sweater standing at a work station, using a computer as a man walks through the open-office space behind her.

Light, watercolor rendering of a conference room with sliding wood-slat doors

Woman with brown hair sitting in a cubicle, working at a computer.

From inside a conference room, a woman can be seen walking down a hallway through the open, sliding wooden wall.
Flexible Community Space – Doors Open
In a lobby with a wood-slat wall, a man can be seen standing in front of a reception window/desk, talking to the woman inside.
View of Flexible Community Space from Lobby – Doors Closed
A man and a woman walk out of a conference room into a lobby, where another man talks to a woman in the reception area.
View of Flexible Community Space from Lobby – Doors Open

A building is seen from across the street -- it's first floor is store front space, and the upper floors are a parking garage.