IN THE STUDIO Archives - Page 8 of 16

A Pledge for Sustainable & Healthy Materials

It used to be that selecting environmentally responsible materials meant using local and recycled content, sustainably harvested wood and low VOC paint. Today, the architecture and design community recognizes that we can do even more through our material choices to impact human health, climate, environment and society. Until recently, though, we didn’t have the information we needed to avoid harmful materials.

This is changing.

Designers and manufacturers are now engaged in a movement to advance content disclosure of architectural building products so designers can understand the environmental and social impact of the materials they specify. With this knowledge, we hope to drive the development of healthier material and product options through increased demand.

Mayer/Reed is one of the 114 design firms that signed the (Portland initiated) Materials Transparency Pledge. We pledge to support the efforts of the Living Product 50 manufacturers to share the responsibility required to make materials transparency work. For those manufactures that have taken the lead by supplying HPDs, EPDs, Declare, Cradle to Cradle, Green Guard Certifications, thank you for your investment to supply this information. To complete the loop, as designers we pledge to:

Support Human Health by preferring products that support and foster life and seek to eliminate the use of hazardous substances.

Support Climate Health by preferring products that reduce carbon emissions and ultimately sequester more carbon than emitted.

Support Ecosystem Health by preferring products that support and regenerate healthy air, water, and biological cycles through thoughtful supply chain management and restorative company practices.

Support Social Health and Equity by preferring products from manufacturers who secure human rights in their operations and supply chains.

Support a Circular Economy by reusing buildings and materials; and by designing for material efficiency, long life and perpetual cycling.

We’re in an exciting time for design, with opportunities to create places that push past the old benchmarks for sustainability. But a system change will only find success when individual designers, owners and manufacturers change their patterns. Will you join the movement?

To read the full pledge or join the signatories: www.pmtc-pdx.org/about.html

Reflections for the New Year

Kaleidoscopic:
– Changing form, pattern, color, etc.
– Continually shifting from one set of relations to another; rapidly changing

We welcome the new year with appreciation for the kaleidoscopic beauty found in shifting, adapting and evolving our perspectives. While we experienced disruption in ways we could not have predicted last year, it is our wish that these challenges catalyze positive change in our studio, community and world. We wish you a happy and healthy 2021.

Juneau Wayfinding with art by Rico Worl

Honoring diverse and minority voices, stories and art is important to authentic placemaking for every community. We are committed, through our work and in our personal lives, to collaborating with, supporting and elevating BIPOC artists and community members.

Portland Winter Light Festival 2021

Outdoor events with creative formats and social distancing will continue to be key to connections within our community in 2021. This year’s Portland Winter Light Festival, deemed a (non)Festival, will be dispersed, yet filled with color, joy, wonder and delight. Light installations will pop up all over town including Mayer/Reed’s entry at Oaks Park called, Kaleidoscopic Canopy. Check it out February 5-6 & 12-13.

Creston Park Playground

The importance of investment in parks and access to nature and the public realm has become increasingly clear this past year as more and more people turn to parks and open spaces for solace, mental health, exercise and recreation. As landscape architects, designers and planners, we must redouble our efforts to create parks, walkable streets and public spaces where everyone can feel a sense of community and belonging.

Curious about the places behind the Kaleidoscopes? Mayer/Reed projects, Juneau Wayfinding & Interpretive Elements and Creston Park Playground, were completed in 2020. The Portland Winter Light Festival concept (center) will become reality in February 2021.

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

Shannon Simms Named Associate

Mayer/Reed has promoted landscape architect Shannon Simms to Associate in recognition of her extraordinary professional and design leadership. A leader in active transportation and urban design, she is currently managing the landscape architecture discipline on the Urban Design Team for TriMet’s Southwest Corridor Light Rail that extends from Portland to Tualatin, OR. Shannon has also led the team’s efforts to establish the transportation mode and alignment of the Marquam Hill Connector, a key component of the Southwest Corridor project. Recent experience includes concepts and urban design for the Green Loop and the multi-modal portions of Better Naito in Portland, landscape design for the recently opened Concourse E extension at Portland International Airport, and trail components of the Ebey Waterfront Trail along the Qwuloolt Estuary in Marysville, WA.