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.

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!

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.