Capture Summer: Beyond Opening Day

Summer is here and sunny days are in the forecast. As you head out to enjoy the weather, capture your experience of a favorite place that Mayer/Reed had a hand in shaping. We’re inspired by the moments of joy, beauty and reflection that have been submitted to our Beyond Opening Day call for entries.

Photos by: @parnel8, @ren.r.decherney, @claud_oval, @brhyatt

Send us photos of your summer bliss. Whether it’s bubble play at Sofia Park in Wilsonville, a morning jog along the Eastbank Esplanade in Portland, a sunset in the Old Mill District in Bend, returning home from Mexico at the San Ysidro border crossing or an experience at any other Mayer/Reed project, tag your Instagram posts with #mayerreedphoto or send photos to callforentries@mayerreed.com to enter the call for entries for our photography exhibition. Submit your images by July 31st!

Video Inspires Support for a World Class Trekking Loop in the Columbia River Gorge

The Friends of the Columbia Gorge have big plans in the works for Oregon and Washington’s famed recreation destination. A 200-mile trail system connecting small towns, farms, wineries and wild areas will open opportunities for multi-day adventures, create contiguous areas of protected lands and support Gorge economies by connecting trails to communities. With nearly 80% of the land for the “Towns to Trails” loop secured and 40% of the trails in place, the plan for this new adventuring idea is moving closer to reality.

Mayer/Reed developed a video for Friends of the Columbia Gorge to share this vision. It quickly received recognition; inspiring KGW’s travel segment, Grant’s Getaways, and Willamette Week to feature the Towns to Trails project.

Willamette Falls Riverwalk Concept Design Celebration

Courtesy of Snøhetta

Years of planning, rounds of design, site explorations and valuable community conversations and public agency support have all shaped our vision for the Blue Heron site and The Willamette Falls Riverwalk in Oregon City. Plans and images of this along-awaited, legacy project were revealed this week at a media event on this intriguing 22-acre post-industrial riverfront site.

Thank you to everyone who joined members of the Design Collective – Snøhetta, Mayer/Reed and DIALOG – for the first public viewing of the concept on Saturday, June 3rd, at the Willamette Falls Riverwalk Design Celebration. It was our pleasure to discuss the design of this complex site, assemble a time capsule and raise a glass to toast the success of the project!

The team is beginning work on detailed design and construction drawings for the first phase of the riverwalk, with ground breaking scheduled for next summer. Check out willamettefallslegacy.org for the latest project news and progress.

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Posted June 04, 2017
Written by: Mayer/Reed
Categories: EVENTS  PROJECTS 

Diverse Cultures Come Together for a Park Vision

Planning a new park at SE 150th and Division posed a big challenge: How do we meaningfully engage a culturally diverse community in a park planning process? Among the people who call Centennial neighborhood home, some have lived through annexation by the City of Portland, some have moved east from the central city, some are first generation immigrants, some are second generation, and some are recently resettled refugees. English, Spanish, Russian, Nepali and Somali are all spoken here. Knowing that a 7.3-acre site cannot address every need in this park-deficient neighborhood, how do we as designers prioritize activities and create a shared park vision?In collaboration with Portland Parks & Recreation (PP&R), Mayer/Reed developed a creative and inclusive approach to meaningfully engage the community. Graphics that communicate ideas without language are an essential part of our outreach. Community liaisons help neighbors from different cultural backgrounds feel comfortable with the public process. And food and child care boost attendance at public meetings.

Last July, PP&R held a “Party in the Park,” where nearly 100 neighbors cooked and ate together, played games and participated in planning exercises on the future park site. We engaged attendees with colorful image boards depicting a variety of park activities and a site model where people flagged possible locations for activities. Community gardens, group gathering spaces and sports emerged as common themes.MayerReed_150DivisionParkMPA followup community event in October invited participants to arrange and prioritize scaled templates of amenities such as sports fields, playgrounds and gardens on a site model. A separate art activity encouraged young and old to depict their ideal park experiences, which we then composed into a colorful “tapestry” to represent the shared vision.Inspired by this exchange of ideas with the community, Mayer/Reed created two design options for the park which we presented at a community meeting in April. Consensus was reached for some elements, while others (like a dog park) continued to generate fruitful discussion. Building on this critical input, we’re now finalizing a single park concept. This process has demonstrated that comprehensive outreach and participatory design activities (despite language barriers) can bring many different people together to shape a space that is destined to become a social hub of activity for the neighborhood.

Posted: May 03, 2017
Written by: Tim Strand and Shannon Simms
Posted May 03, 2017
Written by: Tim Strand and Shannon Simms
Categories: COMMUNITY  PROJECTS