2013 - Page 3 of 5 - Mayer Reed

Summer Picnic: Sofia Park at Villebois

What is one of our favorite things to do? Enjoy the spaces we design.

This year we converged on Sofia Park in Wilsonville, Oregon for our annual office summer party. Sofia Park is one of the three parks Mayer/Reed planned and designed in Villebois, a 540-acre mixed-use community in Wilsonville, OR. The warm summer evening was perfect for our growing Mayer/Reed families to enjoy a picnic and laughs over lawn games and giant bubbles. The kids explored the playground and climbed big boulders and trees in the rocky stormwater swale. We ended our evening with a stroll up the promenade to the town center where we played a few games of bocce ball at the recently completed piazza.

Parks and public spaces integrated into developments are integral to creating a sense of community. Meeting neighbors and forming life long friendships are important traditions of neighborhood parks. These spaces connect us and create shared meaning. It was a great to see these connections taking root and the parks filled with activities.

Randall Children’s Hospital Received 2013 SEGD Global Design Honor Award

P80643_00_N245_cropped — Courtesy ZGF Architects LLP Photo credit: Nick Merrick © Hedrich Blessing

The Society for Environmental Graphic Design, a global community of people working at the intersection of communication design and the built environment, recognized the team of ZGF Architects interior group and Mayer/Reed with an Honor Award for their collaboration on the environmental graphics and wayfinding for the Randall Children’s Hospital in Portland, Oregon.

The jury reviewed submissions from around the world and awarded 17 merit awards, 1 jury award and 4 honor awards.

“Hospitals pose difficult EGD challenges that require rigorous, integrated solutions to communicate orientation information in a welcoming, comforting manner. Engaging, yet remarkably restrained for a children’s hospital, the signage and placemaking programs here reinforce each other to create delight and enhance both wayfinding and well-being.”
– Juror comment

Finding the Next Generation of Designers

When we were ready to expand our Visual Communications group earlier this year, we asked ourselves, “Where do we find the next generation of Environmental Graphic Designers?” — those individuals driven to explore the intersection of architectural space, public places, wayfinding and graphic design. Finding designers with this combination of interests and skills can be a challenge. We look for smart people with the capacity for critical design thinking, who also expand our collective skill set.

When Ryan Swedenborg and Margaret Drew joined the studio this year, group dynamics changed. Talents, interests and personalities interact in ways that compliment and inspire each other. Ryan and Margaret are graduates of graphic design programs at PSU and OSU, respectively. Their personalities add to the studio socially and creatively.

Working with young designers brings energy to the studio and stimulates the give-and-take relationship of learning and influence. As they learn more about designing for the built environment, they share with us their own passions in design and the next generation’s perspective.

Bud Clark Commons Recognized as Project of the Year

Congratulations to Holst Architecture and the entire design team for their work on Bud Clark Commons, which was recognized by Residential Architect Magazine as the 2013 Project of the Year. Mayer/Reed designed the day center courtyard gate, communal outdoor spaces, building identity, and interior signs for the facility. Bud Clark Commons hosts a day center with counseling, a 90-bed men’s shelter and 130 low income studio apartments.

The jury evaluated more than 600 entries finally selecting 34 projects: one Project of the Year, 10 Grand awards, and 23 Merit awards. One juror praised the project stating, “This is an incredibly smart, respectful design. It has a real commitment to sustainability.” Another added, “As a piece of architecture in a city, it functions beautifully. It achieves a level of design a lot of higher-rent places don’t achieve.”