COMMUNITY Archives - Mayer Reed

Re-Introducing Pride Plaza

A band plays during the Grand Reopening celebration of Portland's Pride Plaza. A colorful Pride-flag-inspired ribbon is painted on the street plaza. There is a mix of people sitting on street furnishings, standing to watch the band, and strolling through the plaza.

On October 3, the community gathered to celebrate the grand reopening of Pride Plaza in downtown Portland. The plaza became a stage as drag queens and musicians performed, U.S. Senator Ron Wyden shared remarks and neighbors came together to honor the history and future of this beloved gathering place.

Illustrative plan of Pride Plaza for PBOT by Mayer/Reed. Plan shows a colorful "Pride ribbon" ground graphic and street furnishings.

Our studio led the redesign of Pride Plaza. It was the first implementation of PBOT’s Street Plaza Design Toolkit, developed by Mayer/Reed to help transform streets into comfortable, inviting places for people to gather. Community feedback helped us answer the question: What does Pride look like here in Portland? Inspired by queer theory’s embrace of fluidity and nonconformity, we explored whimsically interrupting the linear nature of the existing street with a patterned and colorful “Pride ribbon” inspired by the Pride flag. The ribbon arranges social zones for gatherings, playful furnishings, accessible crossings and a bike hub and invites engagement by providing space for future layering of art, performance and activations.

Rooted in Portland’s LGBTQ+ history, the revitalized plaza looks to the future with new energy, color and opportunities.

25 Years of the Van Evera Bailey Fellowship

The Architecture Foundation of Oregon (AFO) is celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Van Evera Bailey (VEB) Fellowship, marking a quarter century of impact. Mayer/Reed is proud to support this milestone through pro bono graphic design for the anniversary celebration honoring the past and current fellows.

A grid showing examples of the social media campaign Mayer/Reed created for the AFO VEB Anniversary celebration. The first row are into slides. The second row is the inauguarl VEB Fellow of 2001, John Cava. The third row is the current 2026 VEB Fellow, Emi Day.

“The VEB Fellowship is my favorite AFO program, and more people should know about it! The program gives fellows time, encouragement and visibility—a gift with lasting impact on our community. Each year, I’m inspired by their work and the outcomes.” –Mayer/Reed Principal Kathy Fry, SEGD

Since 2001, AFO has partnered with the Van Evera and Janet M. Bailey Fund of Oregon Community Foundation to award annual fellowships ranging from $20,000 to $50,000. The fellowship gives professionals the time and resources to explore ideas that create lasting value for themselves, the design profession and the broader community. To learn more about AFO and its fellowship programs visit af-oregon.org/fellowships and join us on November 12 to celebrate 25 years of the VEB Fellowship.

Community Helps Shape New Vancouver Park

A Mayer/Reed landscape architect stands with an east Vancouver community member, pointing at the large multilingual display boards at a community engagement event. The boards feature images different types of programming and park uses. Participants marked images they are drawn to with red dots.

Mayer/Reed is designing a new 14-acre community park within the Vancouver Innovation Center mixed-use development. The large, wooded parcel was privately owned and fenced off from the public for decades, and now neighbors are helping shape its future. Together with our partner JLA Public Involvement, we hosted a series of multilingual in-person and virtual open houses that have garnered ideas from across the community. We asked participants: What do you want to see at the new park? How do you want to play and exercise? How do you want to experience and connect with nature?

An image of the undeveloped wooded parcel within the Vancouver Innovation Center. Large fir trees filter dappled sunlight onto a small, grassy meadow.

The input shared so far is informing design options that will be presented to the community in October, with a master plan anticipated in December. We look forward to transforming this long-inaccessible landscape into a welcoming public park for east Vancouver.

Volunteering in the Landscape

A group of Mayer/Reed volunteers posing in the cleaned up landscape at Lincoln High School

Community service is an important Mayer/Reed value. We believe in giving back to our community and being stewards of our environment. During a recent outing, volunteers from Mayer/Reed got to work cleaning up the landscape at Lincoln High School.

A smiling volunteer holding the weeds she removed from the planting area

As landscape architect for the school, we put great care into making sure the densely programmed urban campus included green spaces with heritage trees and native plantings. We were happy to revisit the space together and put in a little elbow grease to make sure the landscape is healthy and thriving for the upcoming school year.