_{A rendering of Albina One, a 94-unit affordable housing complex in North Portland, that opens summer 2025. LEVER Architecture specified 60,000 square feet of EcoWorx™ Resilient Pivot plank, Shaw Contract’s first PVC-free, fully recyclable resilient flooring for Albina One.}

New PVC-free resilient offers a sustainable flooring option for affordable housing at Portland’s Albina One

For architects and interior designers, balancing affordability with sustainability is a familiar challenge. However, a new affordable housing project in Portland, Oregon, shows how creative solutions and material innovation allow safe, sustainable housing accessibility to everyone — regardless of their income.

Albina One, a 94-unit affordable housing complex in North Portland, is a pivotal project within the Albina Vision Community Investment Plan. This ambitious initiative seeks to restore the vitality of the Albina neighborhood, a historically significant, predominantly Black community in Portland that flourished in the 1960s. The city and state’s actions led to the forced sale and demolition of homes and businesses as part of an urban renewal process, resulting in significant disruption to the neighborhood. The Albina Vision Trust was formed in 2017 with an ambitious plan to rebuild the Albina community.

Albina One is designed by Portland’s LEVER Architecture with Principal Chandra Robinson and Associate Kelsey McWilliams leading the project. LEVER plays a key role in this transformative project, emphasizing the importance of thoughtful, people-centered design to create spaces that address community needs and enhance residents' lives. Albina One is slated to open in the summer of 2025. Matter of Fact with Soledad O'Brien episode features Albina One Affordable Housing

“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.

PVC-free EcoWorx Resilient prioritizes material health without compromising budget

EcoWorx Resilient is a catalyst of how materials can be used across product platforms to support a circular economy. By offering affordable options like PVC-free EcoWorx Resilient, Shaw Contract enables architects and designers to prioritize material health and well-being without exceeding project budgets.

“Marginalized communities often face projects built on marginalized budgets, and the materials used in these spaces should never have to compromise human or environmental health,” said Tim Conway, Vice President of Sustainability at Shaw Industries.

Conway emphasized that sustainability shouldn’t be a privilege reserved for high-budget projects. “At Shaw Contract, we believe sustainability is a right—not a privilege. Whether designing for low-income housing or luxury developments, our goal is to create products that are safe for people and the planet.”

As Conway stated, “Human health, climate responsibility, and circularity are not optional. They are essential values that must be accessible at every price point.”

Meet The Designer: Kesley McWilliams

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