Experience the Kaleidoscopic Canopy at the Portland Winter Light (non)Festival

Do we need some color and light in our lives these days? Oh yes, we do. The Portland Winter Light Festival heeds the call – this year as a dispersed “non-festival” to – allow plenty of social distancing. Come experience Mayer/Reed’s installation in the grove at Oaks Park. We’re painting with a bigger brush, utilizing the 80 ft tall trees as a canvas. Within this arboreal canopy of color, illuminated mylar curtains reflect a kaleidoscope of moving color, picking up accents from amusement surroundings like the aurora borealis. Down on the ground, we’ll stoke a glowing fire pit in a historic picnic shelter to warm visitors. We thank our partner, Oaks Park, for welcoming this free display amid its stalwart oak trees. Come visit the Kaleidoscopic Canopy at Oaks Park this weekend and next, 6 to 10 pm, February 5-6 and 12-13. And check the map to find all kinds of other dazzling light exhibits throughout the city. See you from a distance!Need some color and light in your life? The Portland Winter Light Festival heeds the call, this year as a dispersed, free “non-festival” that allows plenty of social distancing.

Come experience Mayer/Reed’s Kaleidoscopic Canopy installation at Oaks Park. We’re painting with a big brush, utilizing the 80 ft. tall trees as a canvas. Within this arboreal canopy of color, illuminated mylar curtains reflect a kaleidoscope of moving color, picking up accents from amusement surroundings like the aurora borealis. Down on the ground, we’ll stoke a glowing fire pit in a historic picnic shelter to warm visitors. We thank our partners at Oaks Park for welcoming this display amid its stalwart oak trees.

We’re helping to light up downtown as well. If you’re near the Morrison Bridge, look up to see our 8th floor studio windows aglow at SW 3rd and Washington. We call this display “Wish You Were Here.”

Visit Kaleidoscopic Canopy at Oaks Park this weekend and next, 6 to 10 pm, February 5-6 and 12-13. And check the map to find all kinds of other dazzling light exhibits throughout the city. See you from a distance!

Posted February 01, 2021
Written by: Mayer/Reed
Categories: COMMUNITY  EVENTS 

Giving Thanks

Today and always our hearts and minds are filled with gratitude. We are grateful for the Native lands in which we reside; the mountains that watch over us, the rivers that flow and the abundance of fauna and flora that inhabit our region. We are grateful for our communities that keep us grounded in human connection and for the time this year has provided us for reflection.

Happy Thanksgiving

PDX Next – Concourse E Extension Opens

The momentum of four years of hard work from 2,000 makers, builders, architects and designers could not be slowed, even by a pandemic. In mid-July, the Port of Portland unveiled its brand-new Concourse E extension, the first of many expansion projects under the PDX Next umbrella. The 800-foot concourse extension designed by Hennebery Eddy Architects and Fentress adds several much-needed gates, local restaurants, shops, artwork and a stunning view of Mt. Hood.

Mayer/Reed has worked at PDX for 25 years and we’re proud to be part of its evolution. For the new extension our landscape architects provided site design including a multi-use path, security fencing and signature landscape along the arrival roadway. At the interior, the extension premieres a new wayfinding sign system. Mayer/Reed collaborated with PDX Sign Master Plan firm, HOK, to realize the new PDX sign standards. We look forward to its implementation throughout the entire Portland International Airport.

BLACK LIVES MATTER
We Stand in Solidarity

The power of these words only scratches the surface of the pain and disturbing injustices that Black communities have endured for centuries. We must address the many complicated and layered challenges to erode systemic racism in our society.

As designers of the built environment, we acknowledge our responsibility to serve the community through equitable and inclusive design. We must do better to ensure that Black and other marginalized people have the access and respect they deserve.

Mayer/Reed has paused our outward messaging in the month of June to make an action plan for the work we must do internally to become allies and effective agents of change. We do not have the answers; yet we are committed to an evolving process and long term effort. In a gesture of transparency, we offer an outline of the first steps we are taking:

•  Establish an internal diversity, equity and inclusion advocacy committee to support learning to identify and address implicit bias and systemic racism in design and the design process. Our committee will begin by creating a multi-faceted action plan for this essential work.

•  Invest in diversity, equity, inclusion and anti-oppression training for all employees and leadership.

•  Examine our human resources procedures and create an action plan to increase equitable practices in our studio and opportunities for marginalized people.

•  Evaluate our pro bono, sponsorship and donation commitments to better support organizations that are committed to advancing diversity, equity and inclusion.

•  Perform post-occupancy case studies of select Mayer/Reed projects to learn from the successes and inadequacies of past work and processes.

•  Strengthen our internal and external commitment to educational, internship and mentor programs that strive to eliminate barriers facing people of color in their career pursuits in landscape architecture, interior design and experiential graphic design.

•  As stewards of natural and urban environments, redouble our commitment to designing spaces that foster inclusion and equal access to health, safety and well-being.