New Prize Named for Pioneering Landscape Architect Cornelia Oberlander

The Cornelia Hahn Oberlander Prize in Landscape Architecture is a newly-established, international prize established by The Cultural Landscapes Foundation. The prize will be awarded every other year to practitioners whose landscapes are deemed to be particularly significant, influential and enduring. The work of these individuals are legacy landscapes that promote the best of our profession through excellence and stewardship, along with an increased awareness for the value of design and of our profession.

The prize is named after the influential Cornelia Oberlander who is a landscape architect practicing in Vancouver BC. She has inspired me since the mid-1970s when I was a graduate student. I was impressed with her ability to achieve such a seamless integration of building and landscape.  Since that time, she and her work have strongly influenced me in my own practice here in the Pacific Northwest.

Cornelia has played a significant role in the evolution of our profession; and I’m delighted to see this TCLF program honor her with the naming of the International Landscape Architecture Prize. I’m pleased to participate as part of the 100 Women who have enabled the initial round of funding for this important program.

Posted: Oct 02, 2019
Written by: Carol Mayer-Reed, FASLA
Posted October 02, 2019
Written by: Carol Mayer-Reed, FASLA
Categories: AWARDS  COMMUNITY 

Portland Design Commission Honors the Elks Children’s Eye Clinic with Award of Excellence

elks children's eye clinic Last week the Portland Design Commission presented their third annual Design Excellence Award to the Elks Children’s Eye Clinic on Oregon Health & Science University’s Marquam Hill campus.
elks children's eye clinic“The building and landscape work together to create a place of healing. They are elegant in their simplicity,” noted Julie Livingston, Portland Design Commission Chair. “The site plan organizes and makes sense of competing uses in a manner that improves the pedestrian environment and benefits both the new building and also the existing Casey Eye Institute.”

The building received Design Commission approval last fall and is under construction. The design commission lauded NBBJ’s architecture, Mayer/Reed’s site design and OHSU’s commitment to design on their urban campuses. Carol Mayer-Reed accepted the award on behalf of the team at a Portland City Council meeting, May 1.

A Fruitful Awards Season

With fall comes the awards season – a time when we celebrate the best of design in the built environment. Seeing the exemplary work of our professions is inspiring and pushes us all to aim higher.Mayer/Reed’s landscape architecture work at Portland State University’s Karl Miller Center garnered an Honor Award in General Design from the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) Oregon Awards on November 2. The jury lauded its positive environmental and social impacts and integration with the architecture and urban realm.On November 5, the Karl Miller Center received accolades again from the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Seattle. The chapter honored SRG Partnership and Behnisch Architeckten with an Award of Merit.The AIA Seattle Chapter also recognized DLR Group’s MacLaren Campus Cottages with an Honorable Mention. The youth correctional facility housing is designed to encourage healthy adolescent development and rehabilitation. As part of this mission, Mayer/Reed’s visual communications group designed environmental graphics in collaboration with mural artist Blaine Fontana, artfully depicting stories of self-reflection, transformation, and resilience that were shared by the youth.Finally, the modernization of Portland Public Schools’ 1921 Roosevelt High School received a DeMuro Award for Excellence from Restore Oregon for its extraordinary historic rehabilitation. Led by Bassetti Architects, the Roosevelt team includes Mayer/Reed for site design.

We are continually grateful for opportunities to collaborate with our design partners in the creation of exceptional, award-winning work.

Posted November 21, 2018
Written by: Mayer/Reed
Categories: AWARDS  PROJECTS 

Willamette Falls Riverwalk Concept Receives National Accolades

We’re proud to announce two national design awards for the Willamette Falls Riverwalk; one from from the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) and the other from The Waterfront Center.

The riverwalk received an Honor Award in Analysis & Planning at the recent national ASLA Awards event in Philadelphia, PA. The jury commented, “Here we see the combining of public access, habitat, historic and cultural interpretation, and economic development in a project that’s very tangible in terms of its potential to being implemented.”

The Waterfront Center celebrated the Willamette Falls Riverwalk Master Plan with the Top Honor for plans at an awards ceremony in Washington, DC this fall. Their Excellence on the Waterfront Awards program recognizes exceptional waterfront planning, design and development from around the world. The riverwalk concept also won local ASLA chapter design awards in New York this year and in Oregon in 2017.

Rendering by Snøhetta.
The Riverwalk’s explorer trails will encircle the post-industrial clarifier, while offering public access and excellent views of the falls. The clarifier will be repurposed to feature an oak savanna that replicates the character of the landscape found in the surrounding basalt bluffs. Rendering by Snøhetta.

Snøhetta, Mayer/Reed and DIALOG’S 3.5 year-long effort on the riverwalk has culminated in a well-supported concept that has been embraced by the project partners and the community. The team’s design for public spaces at the former waterfront mill site encompasses a network of promenades and lofted pathways that lace programmable gathering places, viewpoints and three-dimensional physical strata. The first phase of the riverwalk is expected to break ground in 2020.

Posted November 19, 2018
Written by: Mayer/Reed
Categories: AWARDS  PROJECTS