Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Architects' Port of Portland headquarters was recognized in the recent issue of Forbes magazine as "one of the most high-tech green buildings in the world." The Port of Portland can lay claim to having the first living machine in a commercial building in the Pacific Northwest.

The living machine is designed by Worrell Water Technologies.

The building has a 10,000-square-foot green roof, motorized sun sensors, as well as ground source and active radiant ceiling panel heating and cooling. Most offices were designed to maximize natural light.

The geoexchange system is closed-loop and takes water heated by the ground past a heat exchanger to extract heat in the winter. It will have the opposite cooling effect in the summer.

The star attraction may be the building's living machine, at the visitor entrance at the main level of the building.

While appearing like an expansive planter, the living machine will process waste water for re-use in toilets in the building. The solids will be removed before reaching the living machine, and the actual waste water filtering will take place about five feet below the surface of the planters. The system will be part of a strategy to cut total water usage by 75 percent in the building.

The building also has water-efficient fixtures, low-VOC paints and materials, recycled content and regionally manufactured materials.