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!
Building on the momentum of this spring’s Streets of Possibility event, I helped organize a workshop on June 13 to brainstorm tangible ideas for the future of downtown Portland, Oregon. Nearly 40 urban designers and creative thinkers gathered with tracing paper, markers and optimism—ready to reimagine downtown’s street network and its connections to the Willamette riverfront.
As one of the event organizers, I designed maps and created prompts to spark ideas and nudge the creative process. We asked big questions and proposed bold ideas: Why not this? What about that? Could it look like this? The ideas flowed as freely as our markers until late afternoon.
Downtown Portland is undergoing transformation. It won’t return to what it was, nor should it. Our challenge, rather, is to help shape what it will become. Over 40% of downtown Portland’s land lies in the public realm of streets. Waterfront Park is an enormous, underutilized asset most of the year with untapped potential for connection, culture and community. This exercise helped us envision downtown as one of Portland’s neighborhoods—more than a place to just work or visit; a place to stay, play and simply be.
Real change requires action. Coming together to share ideas and see new perspectives is critical to our city’s path forward. Thank you to Randy Gragg and Will Smith of the PDX Design Collaborative for opening the doors of the JK Gill Building to host the workshop and the designers who showed up eager to sketch, discuss and push each other to think bigger and more inclusively.
The day wrapped up with a happy hour open to the broader community and even more voices contributed to the dialogue. One seasoned participant remarked, “This is the way we used to do it”—a compliment that reminded us we’re returning to a civic culture where urban design is visionary, not reactive. Follow-up conversations are happening, and we’ll share a summary of the workshop to ensure the thinking can live on and inspire action at all levels. We invite everyone—elected leaders, civic organizations, business owners, residents—to keep imagining. Because Portland’s next chapter is unwritten, and together, we can shape it.
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.
Our in-studio gallery recently exhibited the works of Mayer/Reed visual communications designer, Sabrina Obeso. The eight monochrome portraits represent her artistic journey into realism and the study of light, shadow, contrast and precision. Her subjects range from cultural icons to horror monsters, each selected for their expressive features.
Trained in fine art, Sabrina is obsessed with details and gravitates toward the challenges of realistic portraiture, a genre she describes as “one of the hardest things to get right, as there’s no room for error.” Working in pencil, charcoal, graphite and ink, she layers media to heighten contrast. Her devotion to working in black and white allows her to isolate and emphasize tonal depth without the distraction of color.
A process of spontaneity and reflection shapes each portrait. Sabrina doesn’t keep a sketchbook or follow a set routine. Inspiration hits when it hits. She begins pieces in bursts of inspiration, allowing the initial form to emerge quickly. Then she steps away, sometimes for days, before returning with fresh eyes. “When I come back to it, I immediately know what it needs and I focus in on the detail.”
