Raising the roof

This is the federal building downtown Portland, undergoing an extensive renovation, lasting several years and costing many millions of dollars. But it's "green!" It includes lots of energy-saving innovations, such as a slanted roof to capture rain water for re-use.

I'm not sure why the roof is raised today. Other photos I've seen and taken of it show the roof seemingly intact. But it caught my eye on the way downtown today, so I had to shoot some photos. Here's a link to an article about the building project.

That's city hall in the foreground, built in 1895. Downtown Portland is quite a mix of old and new buildings.

Have a look at it LARGE for more detail. There are more photos in my Google album here.