Our recent design proposal for the Loop PDX competition focused on activating an underutilized site in the Central Eastside Industrial District resulting in a top 10 submission for the Mayer/Reed & Toole Design Group team. Loop PDX asked teams to imagine the future of a proposed 6-mile pedestrian and bike “Green Loop” linking Portland’s east and west sides. Our design submission “seeds the loop” with a pop-up intervention to stimulate public and private development interest in creating a north/south green corridor intersected by activity nodes.
Entitled DIV|7, the concept creates a southern gateway and public plaza at SE 7th Ave and Division St. A typology of repurposed shipping containers provide various configurations for maker studios, galleries, food vendors and bike rental/repair, providing low cost incubator space for business start-ups that is in keeping with the district’s character. Our submission also modifies one block of the 7th Avenue right-of-way to create landscaped, segregated pedestrian and bike lanes with a vacated triangular parcel converted to a plaza with views to the river.
Our team found the competition valuable in stimulating our design thinking. Energized by the opportunity to shape a place we’d all use, we plan to continue the conversation that pushes design for Portland’s livability. We look forward to the Green Loop becoming reality. Imagine the future!
Join us for Design Week Portland 2016!
Design Week Portland 2016 will generate interesting dialog that will most certainly invigorate the local design scene. As in years past, we look forward to connecting with other creative minds during this annual city-wide exploration of all things design April 15 – 23. Carol Mayer-Reed, FASLA, will offer thoughts on two remarkable urban renaissance opportunities:
For Central Eastside: Beyond Taking Sides, Carol and the other panelists will explore new visions that could substantially re-define the character of Portland’s historic Inner Eastside Industrial District. Tuesday, April 19, 6:00 pm at Bora Architects.
A fast-moving PechaKucha Night will examine the intersection of Design & Identity through a wide array of topics. Carol will focus her 20 images on the Willamette Falls Riverwalk project in Oregon City. Thursday, April 21st, 6:00 pm at Hatch Innovation Lab.
Celebrating the Portland Winter Light Festival
Mayer/Reed’s eighth floor studio glowed orange in celebration of Portland’s Winter Light Festival February 3-6, 2016. As a firm sponsor with steering committee members for this inaugural event, we were thrilled to see how the festival’s imaginative installations and activities brought the community out to light up these dark days of winter. We hope it’s the start of a new Portland tradition!
A New Take on the Bike Commute Challenge
At Mayer/Reed we are proud of our commitment to alternative modes of transportation. But we asked ourselves, how are we actually commuting as an office? So during this year’s Bike Commute Challenge we broadened our participation in the studio by tracking all modes of travel. In addition to biking, we wanted to encourage and reflect on our use of other forms of alternative transportation. We had fun drawing our routes on a large shared map and marking a colorful chart to track walk, bike, bus, MAX, carpool and single occupancy car.
Mayer/Reedies used them all! We are happy to see that we traveled by bicycle more than any other mode of transportation and only 30% of commutes were by single occupancy car. Here’s looking forward to doing even better next year!