Standards & Procedures

Portland State University strives to create a quality environment for all students and users of its facilities. Here you can find details about our process and the standards that we uphold. 

Technical Design Standards

With the intention of clearly and concisely communicating our standards, including preferences and recommendations, to the team of consultants and contractors who work on our projects, we composed these technical design standards. The work involved in the creation of this document comprised obtaining information from important stakeholders on campus, including the professionals who manage PSU’s daily campus and maintenance activities, as well as the leaders who define PSU’s strategic approach and future vision. Their expertise, experience, ideas, and recommendations, in addition to our own knowledge of best design and construction practices, were incorporated into this document to guide and assist campus design efforts. We are excited about our department’s role in shaping the PSU-of-the-future while preserving the good things we have today. We are pleased to share this document with our partners and hope it can be used to fulfill our department’s mission. 

*The compliance with CPC Technical Design Standards is a contractual requirement. The Contractor is responsible for communicating the guidelines relevant to this document to subcontractors and for verifying compliance. The application of these guidelines does not release Design Consultants and Contractors of responsibility and legal liability of any bid documents created from it or construction practices applied in the construction site.

For suggestions and feedback please submit a TDS Feedback Form.

To get in touch directly send an email to buildit@pdx.edu
Please make sure to identify name, company, the section and subsection that you are commenting on, and your suggestions.

Procedures

Portland State University resides within the University District, a zone created by the City of Portland in 1995. University District policies are implemented through the City of Portland Central City Plan District and related requirements of the City of Portland Planning and Zoning code. Detailed property and property related land use information is available through Portland Maps. University land use planning is conducted by the Campus Planning Office. The Space Allocation Committee assists the campus community and local stakeholders in addressing a variety of campus long range and short range land use topics.

With the purpose of providing consultants general design criteria for campus improvements, the Portland State University Building Design and Sustainable Practice Guidelines outline the construction and design standards for Portland State’s urban campus. These guidelines are managed and maintained by the Planning, Construction and Real Estate (PCRE) departments, as an overlay to the City of Portland Central City Fundamental Design Guidelines. In addition to these standards, the PSU Physical Facilities Inventory Manual establishes space allocation standards for the design of facilities across campus.