Mayer/Reed was one of three finalists who submitted designs for the countdown clock recently installed in Pioneer Courthouse Square as the promotional centerpiece for the 2016 IAAF World Indoor Track & Field Championships, March 17-20, 2016. Our concept combined art, technology and craft as an expression of Portland, the world-class event and celebration.
The digital display used for the countdown clock is vertically oriented in a dramatic waterfall configuration, embedded in an internally-illuminated, translucent conical form, emblematic of Mt. Hood and re-imagined as a veil of watery lightness supported by a javelin shaped wooden mast. Led by Mayer/Reed, the design was a collaboration with Nancy Cheng, associate professor of architecture at the University of Oregon, whose work with digital fabrication processes to generate screens for filtering light  inspired the design of the translucent cladding.