IN THE STUDIO Archives

Reflections for the New Year

Kaleidoscopic:
– Changing form, pattern, color, etc.
– Continually shifting from one set of relations to another; rapidly changing

We welcome the new year with appreciation for the kaleidoscopic beauty found in shifting, adapting and evolving our perspectives. While we experienced disruption in ways we could not have predicted last year, it is our wish that these challenges catalyze positive change in our studio, community and world. We wish you a happy and healthy 2021.

Juneau Wayfinding with art by Rico Worl

Honoring diverse and minority voices, stories and art is important to authentic placemaking for every community. We are committed, through our work and in our personal lives, to collaborating with, supporting and elevating BIPOC artists and community members.

Portland Winter Light Festival 2021

Outdoor events with creative formats and social distancing will continue to be key to connections within our community in 2021. This year’s Portland Winter Light Festival, deemed a (non)Festival, will be dispersed, yet filled with color, joy, wonder and delight. Light installations will pop up all over town including Mayer/Reed’s entry at Oaks Park called, Kaleidoscopic Canopy. Check it out February 5-6 & 12-13.

Creston Park Playground

The importance of investment in parks and access to nature and the public realm has become increasingly clear this past year as more and more people turn to parks and open spaces for solace, mental health, exercise and recreation. As landscape architects, designers and planners, we must redouble our efforts to create parks, walkable streets and public spaces where everyone can feel a sense of community and belonging.

Curious about the places behind the Kaleidoscopes? Mayer/Reed projects, Juneau Wayfinding & Interpretive Elements and Creston Park Playground, were completed in 2020. The Portland Winter Light Festival concept (center) will become reality in February 2021.

Giving Thanks

Today and always our hearts and minds are filled with gratitude. We are grateful for the Native lands in which we reside; the mountains that watch over us, the rivers that flow and the abundance of fauna and flora that inhabit our region. We are grateful for our communities that keep us grounded in human connection and for the time this year has provided us for reflection.

Happy Thanksgiving

Shannon Simms Named Associate

Mayer/Reed has promoted landscape architect Shannon Simms to Associate in recognition of her extraordinary professional and design leadership. A leader in active transportation and urban design, she is currently managing the landscape architecture discipline on the Urban Design Team for TriMet’s Southwest Corridor Light Rail that extends from Portland to Tualatin, OR. Shannon has also led the team’s efforts to establish the transportation mode and alignment of the Marquam Hill Connector, a key component of the Southwest Corridor project. Recent experience includes concepts and urban design for the Green Loop and the multi-modal portions of Better Naito in Portland, landscape design for the recently opened Concourse E extension at Portland International Airport, and trail components of the Ebey Waterfront Trail along the Qwuloolt Estuary in Marysville, WA.

BLACK LIVES MATTER
We Stand in Solidarity

The power of these words only scratches the surface of the pain and disturbing injustices that Black communities have endured for centuries. We must address the many complicated and layered challenges to erode systemic racism in our society.

As designers of the built environment, we acknowledge our responsibility to serve the community through equitable and inclusive design. We must do better to ensure that Black and other marginalized people have the access and respect they deserve.

Mayer/Reed has paused our outward messaging in the month of June to make an action plan for the work we must do internally to become allies and effective agents of change. We do not have the answers; yet we are committed to an evolving process and long term effort. In a gesture of transparency, we offer an outline of the first steps we are taking:

• Establish an internal diversity, equity and inclusion advocacy committee to support learning to identify and address implicit bias and systemic racism in design and the design process. Our committee will begin by creating a multi-faceted action plan for this essential work.

• Invest in diversity, equity, inclusion and anti-oppression training for all employees and leadership.

• Examine our human resources procedures and create an action plan to increase equitable practices in our studio and opportunities for marginalized people.

• Evaluate our pro bono, sponsorship and donation commitments to better support organizations that are committed to advancing diversity, equity and inclusion.

• Perform post-occupancy case studies of select Mayer/Reed projects to learn from the successes and inadequacies of past work and processes.

• Strengthen our internal and external commitment to educational, internship and mentor programs that strive to eliminate barriers facing people of color in their career pursuits in landscape architecture, interior design and experiential graphic design.

• As stewards of natural and urban environments, redouble our commitment to designing spaces that foster inclusion and equal access to health, safety and well-being.