Celebrating a Modernized Benson Polytechnic High School  

Community members and local dignitaries joined students, staff and project team members in celebrating the official reopening of a modernized Benson Polytechnic High School. The September 14 ribbon cutting marked a new era of innovation for Portland Public Schools’ 1916 career and technical education (CTE) campus.  

The modernization, led by Bassetti Architects, balances historic preservation with expansion, increasing space for state-of-the-art, hands-on learning. Mayer/Reed’s site design respects the campus’s classic symmetry while introducing universal accessibility and adding student-centered outdoor spaces throughout.  

Visitors to the grand opening event toured the building and explored new and redesigned outdoor spaces including the main entry landscape, a new central courtyard adjacent to the student commons and the multi-functional CTE courtyard with outdoor workspaces for construction, applied geometry, manufacturing and automotive workshops. 

Benson is the sixth high school to be modernized or rebuilt through the PPS School Improvement Bond program—all with landscape architecture by Mayer/Reed.  

“We Speak Your Language” Wayfinding at the New Holgate Library

Multnomah County Library and the Southeast Portland community recently celebrated the grand opening of Holgate Library. The bright, modern facility, designed by Bora with multilingual wayfinding by Mayer/Reed, is the first new, permanent library to open in the Multnomah County Library network in more than a decade. At 21,000 square feet, it’s one of the largest.

With an emphasis on accessibility and inclusion, Multnomah County Library commissioned Mayer/Reed to design wayfinding with five languages and unique icons to invite visitors to explore the collections, programs and services. The driver for this work — the “we speak your language” approach — is a milestone change in how the library communicates with patrons. Multnomah County is the first library system in the nation to commit to this level of multilingual signage.

The comprehensive rollout across the entire library network is funded by a 2020 voter-approved bond. By the Spring of 2026, Multnomah County will see the new signage system in major renovations/replacements of seven branch locations, refreshes at other locations and a large, new East County Library (around 95,000 square feet).

Advocating for Landscape Architecture

On May 8 we put down our pencils, logged out of AutoCAD and turned our attention to Washington, D.C., for American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) Advocacy Day. Representing Oregon, Mayer/Reed Principal Jeramie Shane, ASLA, and landscape architect Laura Hartzell, ASLA Oregon President-Elect, chatted with federal leaders about the importance of landscape architecture and the issues that matter to us. 

They met virtually with the offices of Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden and Representatives Suzanne Bonamici and Earl Blumenauer and asked them to consider cosponsoring two bills. The Freedom to Invest in Tomorrow’s Workforce Act (H.R. 1477 / S. 722) would allow the use of tax-exempt 529 savings plans to pay for professional licensure and continuing education – a change that would promote equity by reducing financial barriers in landscape architecture and other professions. Secondly, they discussed the Water Infrastructure Sustainability and Efficiency (WISE) Act (H.R. 2921), allowing more loan dollars from the EPA’s Clean Water State Revolving Fund to be used for nature-based infrastructure projects. For example: green roofs, bioswales and filtration wetlands (like those at our current Clean Water Services’ Fernhill wetlands project in Forest Grove, Oregon). 

ASLA Advocacy Day helps inform national legislators about our profession and can influence policies that benefit landscape architecture professionals, and, by extension, the people and places we design for. We encourage everyone to contact their representatives about the issues that are important to them – your feedback matters.   

Mayer/Reed Signs Downtown Lease

Mayer/Reed is proud to announce the signing of a new 10-year lease at the Power + Light Building in downtown Portland. Our roots run deep in this city and we are committed to taking an active role in its revitalization.

Since 1977, our firm has been located on the corner of SW 3rd and Washington. In that time, we have seen and experienced a lot of change – but none quite like the last four years. With a changing neighborhood, an expiring lease, and the option to relocate elsewhere, we took a hard look at what we need and value in a location. “Ultimately, we determined downtown is still the place to be,” said Principal Jeramie Shane. “We’ll be near Pioneer Courthouse Square, the heart of the city.”

“The space we selected is on the transit mall – a place we helped design. It has a stop just feet from the front door, giving employees ideal access to bus and light rail,” said Associate Principal Shannon Simms. “The building has high-quality bike and locker rooms, which are key amenities that enable our employees to commute on the city’s bike network.”

Our move to the Power + Light Building this summer will begin a new chapter for Mayer/Reed, but it is also a continuation of our enduring legacy. We believe in a vibrant downtown, and we are doubling down in our commitment. “We have been intentional about investing firm resources in ways that benefit downtown businesses and activity, especially since returning to in-office work in 2021,” said Principal Kathy Fry. “We are encouraged to see other firms doing the same.”