the project was awarded the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Gold certification for environmental sustainability by the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership. This was the second Gold rating given to a city hall in the U.S. after Seattle’s city hall earned the distinction, and the seventh building in Oregon to earn that level of certification. Contributing factors leading to this award included that during construction, 92% of construction waste was recycled, and non-wood wheat board was used in some of the walls. Additionally, 18 solar panels were installed on the building to generate power for use in the building, with the city purchasing all additional power through renewable power sources, funded in part by Portland General Electric and the Bonneville Environmental Foundation, while the building is 42% more energy efficient than comparable buildings. Other environmental friendly amenities include occupancy sensors, ventilation that monitors carbon dioxide levels to determine when to activate, high performance exterior glass to reduce heat loss, infrared bathroom fixtures, and the use of recycled building materials among other items. Amenities and use The Civic Center was built over three city blocks in downtown. The complex has a total of . The complex has two plazas, with the northern plaza designed to create an outdoor amphitheater with seating for 700. Dedicated as the Tom Hughes Civic Center Plaza, the buildings of the Civic Center serve as a backdrop to the amphitheater, and by using Main Street to increase the space, the amphitheater can accommodate crowds of 5,000 people. South Plaza connects the government portions of the complex to the 120-unit residential component of the development to the south. Both plazas have water features, including a fountain in the North Plaza. On the ground floor of the center's north wing (called the Plaza Building) is a Starbucks coffee shop in a space, while the designed for the library branch remained open for future government use in 2005. Most of the second floor of the Plaza Building was occupied for five years by the Washington County Museum, which moved into the rented space in fall 2012 but moved back to its previous location, at Portland Community College's Rock Creek campus, in fall 2017. In the government areas there is a conference center and the city council chambers. This includes a 250-seat auditorium. The Civic Center hosts the seasonal, weekly farmer’s market on Saturdays, and a marketplace on Tuesdays that