Summer is in full swing and Portland parks are buzzing with activity. To celebrate the season, Mayer/Reed gathered with friends and family for a picnic at one of our recently completed projects, Mill Park in Southeast Portland.
It was a delight to see the space in action — the play area and splash pad packed with neighborhood kids, the bounty of the lush community garden and pick-up soccer games taking shape on the lawn. We set up our picnic in the shelter and spread out blankets in the shade of the large canopy trees. It was a perfect summer evening to celebrate community, sunshine and the joy of a new park.
Mill Park is officially open to all and a celebration is planned for Thursday, September 25. See you in the park!
You’re invited! Join us for a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Thursday, June 26 to celebrate the completion of Phase 1 of the St. Helens Waterfront Redevelopment Project — encompassing a riverwalk and street extensions into the new waterfront district.
Mayer/Reed’s riverwalk design revitalizes the former industrial site. The first phase improves public access to the Columbia River and creates places to gather and play.
Photo courtesy of the City of St. Helens
Festivities begin at 4:30 p.m. at Columbia View Circle (Strand & Cowlitz Streets) with a ribbon cutting and remarks from city leaders. After the ceremony, explore the new stretch of ADA-accessible riverwalk as you head over to the revamped Columbia View Park for live music, food and craft vendors, games and a beer garden. The celebration continues every Thursday this summer with a weekly concert series, 13 Nights on the River.
This spring, Mayer/Reed celebrated a series of major milestones as several transformative public spaces and civic projects officially opened their doors.
Excited officials and community members gathered on April 26 for a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the brand-new Lake Oswego Recreation & Aquatics Center. The state-of-the-art facility, designed by Scott Edwards Architecture, features landscape architecture by Mayer/Reed that prioritizes environmental resilience and accessibility.
On May 19, the new Clackamas County Courthouse in Oregon City opened to the public. Designed and funded by Fengate-led Clackamas Progress Partners, the new courthouse on the Red Soils Campus replaces the outdated and seismically vulnerable 1936 building. Mayer/Reed designed signage and wayfinding that puts clarity and legibility first, with high contrast text, icon usage and strategic sign placement to encourage a smooth visitor experience.
The University of Oregon (UO) welcomed students to its Portland Campus Center on May 29. Environmental graphics and wayfinding at newly renovated space by Opsis elevate the vibrant academic hub and celebrate UO school pride.
And later this month, Metro’s Operations & Maintenance Campus at Blue Lake Regional Park wraps up FFA-led improvements with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on June 14. Mayer/Reed’s site design for the 2.3-acre campus includes ecological restoration of the existing park and outdoor spaces for staff to gather and relax. The site is designed to achieve the International Living Building Challenge’s Core Green Building Certification.
We’re proud to help shape these places that serve, inspire and strengthen our communities.
For the 2025 Portland Winter Light Festival (PDXWLF), Mayer/Reed returned to a tiny place that holds a very big spot in our hearts: Mill Ends Park. Inspired by festival’s theme, “A Light for Tomorrow: A Technicolor Future,” we set out to imagine a bright future for this charming patch of green in the middle of Naito Parkway.
Our installation, “Chasing Rainbows,” transformed Mill Ends Park into a glowing beacon of light — a celebration of history, imagination, and a bit of leprechaun mischief. Perched atop the park’s concrete base, the faceted acrylic structure shimmered in technicolor hues, catching the eyes of curious passersby. But the real magic revealed itself when visitors peered into the kaleidoscopic portal. There, hidden in plain sight, sparkled an infinity of gold coins — our playful nod to the legend that started it all.
From start to finish, this project offered valuable takeaways. Knowing we would need to build it ourselves, we were challenged to bridge creativity with in-house constructability. Throughout design and fabrication, the diverse backgrounds and talents of our team shined; we leaned on individuals’ carpentry skills, their backgrounds in architecture and industrial design, and of course tapped into our wealth of knowledge in landscape architecture and experiential graphics. Along the way, we encountered — and solved — plenty of design puzzles and experimented with new tools. It was energizing to step outside the usual workflow and make things with our hands.
The 2025 PDXWLF drew hundreds of thousands of visitors to downtown Portland and across the city. We were thrilled to be part of the magic — sharing our glowing tribute to Mill Ends Park and seeing the joy it sparked. It was a reminder that art, light and a little imagination can brighten even the coldest nights.
