Bike Commute Challenge: Pumped Up

I love to ride my bike. I commute every day, I’ve raced for years (and won) and so for me and a core group at Mayer/Reed every month is Bike Commute Challenge month. That’s just how we roll. Sure, we do the official challenge, but I mainly use it as opportunity to send an unsolicited and over-the-top email about the virtues of cycling. That gentle reminder and a promise of cookies usually gets a few of the less inclined to pump up the old tires.MR bike_groupAnd so out march all of the bikes with their proud owners. Some of us have carbon fiber bikes, others ride electric bikes or bikes with warn-out knobby tires. Other bikes are retro classic racers and there is one much-beloved yard sale “gem.” All the different bikes at Mayer/Reed underscore the different personalities that play through the firm in a magically cohesive way.

Cycling is also a terrific way to see our city and region. I think it is the best way actually. Each of us at Mayer/Reed takes great personal pride in our work and cycling is a wonderful way to keep tabs our projects. This isn’t just during construction mind you—we are invested for the long haul.  For this reason many of us find cycling is the best way to go. That is just how we roll.

“Think Like a Kid Again” AFO Dinner at the Portland Children’s Museum

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On August 7, members of the community, Portland Children’s Museum and consulting/construction team gathered to “think like a kid again,” while raising money for the Architecture Foundation of Oregon (AFO). Mayer/Reed, Hennebery Eddy Architects and Andersen Construction hosted a picnic and hardhat tour of the new Outdoor Adventure underway at the museum. Sponsored as part of the Dinner with an Architect program, the event contributed to AFO’s mission to create awareness of our designed environments.
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Mayer/Reed’s design for the Outdoor Adventure was inspired by Richard Louv’s book, Last Child in the Woods. It will reconnect children and their families with nature and learning through active, engaging, outdoor experiences. The wooded hillside will feature a rocky streambed, splash puddles, bridges, trails, sand pit, hide-outs, plant thickets and hut-building areas for kids to explore. Hennebery Eddy Architects’ timber shelter provides a flexible location for special events, camp-outs and art projects.

Thank you to the Portland Children’s Museum, donors and skilled craftsman working on behalf of the project. We look forward to its opening on Earth Day, 2014!

Posted: Sep 23, 2013
Written by: Carol Mayer-Reed, FASLA
Posted September 23, 2013
Written by: Carol Mayer-Reed, FASLA
Categories: EVENTS  PROJECTS 

Design Week Portland Presentation: What is EGD today?

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Join us during Design Week Portland for a presentation featuring a retrospective of environmental graphic design (EGD) including prominent designers and projects. EGD embraces many design disciplines including graphic, architecture, interior, landscape, and industrial design—all related to the visual aspects of wayfinding, communicating identity, and shaping the idea of place.

Presenters:
Kathy Fry and Liz Talley, Mayer/Reed
Elizabeth Anderson and Mike Sauer, Anderson Krygier, Inc.

Monday, October 7
6:00 PM to 7:00 PM

Portland State University, Smith Memorial Student Union, RM 236

Posted: Sep 06, 2013
Written by: Kathy Fry
EVENTS 
Posted September 06, 2013
Written by: Kathy Fry
Categories: EVENTS 

Summer Picnic: Sofia Park at Villebois

Sofia Park

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.
Villebois Town Center

Posted: Aug 20, 2013
Written by: Carol Mayer-Reed, FASLA
Posted August 20, 2013
Written by: Carol Mayer-Reed, FASLA
Categories: EVENTS  PROJECTS