“The whole neighborhood used to be single family homes, and it was primarily a Black neighborhood. The Albina Vision Trust is trying to repair some of what was done to the neighborhoods,” Robinson said. “Having Albina One as the first project in this initiative has been extremely rewarding. Creating beautifully designed and healthy homes for the Black community will enhance the lives of residents for years to come.” Robinson talks further about the Albina One project during an episode of Matter of Fact with Soledad O’Brien.

Sustainable PVC-Free EcoWorx™ Resilient: a new flooring option for sustainable multi-family housing

LEVER specified 60,000 square feet of EcoWorx™ Resilient Pivot plank, Shaw Contract’s first PVC-free, fully recyclable resilient flooring. Featuring a timeless wood visual, Pivot is installed in the 94 units throughout the living, dining, kitchen and bathrooms.

“It's really special to have a strong sustainability story through a product that has the most square footage of any material in the space," McWilliams said. “Specifying materials to create a high-quality, comfortable and healthy home is crucial in designing multifamily housing because this is where people spend the majority of their time."

“It’s extremely important that everyone has access to a well-designed, healthy home. This is truly beautiful. You deserve to have dignity in your home,” Robinson added.

LEVER’s specification process extended beyond sustainability attributes and considered the entire manufacturing supply chain of Shaw Contract EcoWorx™ Resilient.

“We really think about equity and sustainability as being paired. It's not just about having healthy products in our home or workplace; it's also ensuring that these products don't mean that someone else's backyard or home has been polluted or degraded during the material extraction and manufacturing process,” Robinson said. “If you can avoid exposing people in the workplace or in their homes to hazardous materials, it's extremely important to have these sustainable material choices to specify.”

“The idea of climate justice is that lower-income communities and communities of people of color often are the ones who are living in those places where those extractions are being made, so their whole environment is negatively impact. If you really think about sourcing, you must consider the entire life cycle story of the products we specify,” Robinson added.

PVC-Free EcoWorx™ Resilient product highlights include:

• • Fully recyclable PVC-free resilient
  • Optimized for low embodied carbon and carbon neutral
  • Formulated without PVC, ortho-phthalates and plasticizers
  • Ideal for moderate to heavy commercial environments including multi-family housing public spaces, corridors and units
  • Backed by Shaw Contract’s industry-leading, 25-Year Commercial Limited Warranty when installed with 4200 resilient adhesive 
  • Superior durability: ExoGuard+® advanced topical finish technology delivers the highest performance scratch resistance and resists UV light degradation, hand sanitizers, disinfectants and common stains
  • Comparably priced to luxury vinyl tile in the commercial interiors industry
  • At the end of its useful life, EcoWorx™ Resilient styles can be recycled to make more EcoWorx products through our Environmental Guarantee. Since 2006, Shaw has reclaimed and recycled nearly 1 billion pounds of post-consumer flooring reducing landfill waste.

Discover the Albina Project's Media Highlights:

Read health through housing initiative article
Listen to Design the Future Podcast with Chandra Robinson
Read about Portland's housing transformation article