COMMUNITY Archives - Page 19 of 21

Just Launched – The Landscape Architect’s Guide to Portland

ASLA National has launched a mobile friendly, online guide to over 48 significant landscapes in Portland. The Landscape Architect’s Guide to Portland is organized into tours under categories such as grand parks, social equity, wildlife, water, and health. It includes site reviews along with addresses, maps, bike and transit routes.

As one of 11 local landscape architects who contributed, I was asked to be the guide for the Water Tour and demonstrate how Portland leads the nation with the development of green infrastructure. The Water Tour showcases a range of public open spaces that highlight ways Portland experiences, expresses, treats, uses and celebrates water. To tell this multi-faceted story, I reviewed Tom McCall Waterfront Park, the Water Pollution Control Laboratory, the Rain Garden at the Oregon Convention Center, Sandy Blvd. Streetscape, and the Amy Joslin Memorial Eco-roof at the Multnomah County Building.Portland is a walkable, bikeable tour-friendly city. It’s a city without a single, stand-out landmark; yet increasingly we see visitors on the streets with maps and mobile devices exploring our many nooks and crannies. Through the eyes of visitors, this is an opportunity to ask ourselves, what has Portland done right? What can other cities learn from Portland? What is Portland doing to maintain our quality of life and continue to become even more sustainable?

Happy 50th YGH!

Yost Grube Hall Architecture celebrated 50+ years with an exhibit opening at The Center for Architecture this month. As longtime colleagues and friends, we are honored to be part of this milestone event. Collaborating with YGH, Mayer/Reed orchestrated the design, copywriting and construction of the exhibit, bringing to life rich stories of people, places and projects the firm has touched over the decades. MayerReed_YGH2 The exhibit runs through Sept 30 at The Center for Architecture, 403 NW 11th Avenue, Portland, OR.

3 Designs Revealed for Mesa City Center

Mayer/Reed joined Team Otak last spring in a competition for the design of the Mesa City Center. This center is key to downtown Mesa, Arizona’s efforts to create a walkable, vibrant live, work, learn, and play environment. As one of the three finalist teams, we recently presented our design for The Living Room Plaza to the City Council and Mesa residents. The plaza will become a dynamic, multi-cultural, educational center of a new arts district in the city, exuding a sense of community and vitality. Check out the competition results and consider lending your support!

Light Rail, Art and Beer

Cast earth, twisted rail, stone and water. Let’s talk about public art along the new Portland-Milwaukie Light Rail line: All of the pieces going in are amazing – some inspiring delight and wonder, others providing pause for contemplation. That’s how art should be.

As we’ve designed public spaces along the line, Mayer/Reed has worked to integrate several art pieces into the design, adding a unique flavor to each station. You’ll get a chance to learn about the art along the entire alignment and hear from a few of the artists on April 17 at TriMet’s TriMet’s Transit On Tap, their series of free public talks held at brewpubs. Sponsored by Mayer/Reed, this event will be at Ford Food and Drink. See you there!