The Stormwater Green Wall at the Portland Expo Center has a new admirer!

A female mallard duck was recently photographed enjoying the Wall’s lush vegetation. Since opening in 2014, the Stormwater Green Wall has flourished. After a winter that broke rainfall records in the Portland Metro area, the ferns, star jasmine, sedge, and other plants are thriving. The Stormwater Green Wall was designed in partnership with the City of Portland Bureau of Environmental Services (BES) as a pilot project. The Wall manages and treats 9,400 square feet of roof stormwater runoff, and it continues to be monitored to better understand its performance and relevance to future projects. The Stormwater Green Wall was constructed as a freestanding custom metal structure with a gravity water distribution system that feeds stormwater to a series of vegetated channels that filter pollutants and absorb stormwater. We are delighted to learn that besides processing stormwater, it provides urban wildlife habitat too!

GreenWorks Presents Portland EXPO Stormwater Wall to Oregon APWA

GreenWorks hosted a Water Resources Committee Meeting for the Oregon Chapter of the American Public Works Association (APWA) on April 9th. For this event, Mike Faha and Shawn Kummer presented The Portland EXPO Stormwater Wall project that was designed by GreenWorks and constructed last fall 2014. Click on the link provided below for additional information about the project. /blog/2014/10/06/portland-expo-center-stormwater-green-wall-grand-opening

Expo Center Stormwater Wall

GreenWorks is working with the City of Portland Bureau of Environmental Services to design a Green Wall at the Expo Center that will also manage roof stormwater runoff. Because of this added function, we have taken to calling this project a Stormwater Wall. A design workshop was just recently held on April 16^th with our project partners at Metro and the Expo Center along with participants from BES and GreenWorks. There was a lot of good conversation, information and design ideas generated during the work session from which to move forward with into the design phase of the project. The Storm Water Wall project will serve as a prototype for BES from which they can monitor and learn from for future green wall projects. It will also provide an exciting and attractive new green sustainable feature to the the Expo Center.

upcoming asla chapter lecture

Two current trends that offer myriad opportunities for landscape architecture include trends towards truly integrated habitats and definitions of veg.itecture, the insertion of vegetation into architectural form. Jason King, ASLA LEED and Brett Milligan ASLA will provide an overview of both topics and provide an open forum for discussion of these important trends.

Part I will give a detailed account of their award-winning entry for the Metro Integrating Habitats Competition entitled Urban Ecotones: Transitional Spaces for Commerce and Culture. The proposal provides a vision for how innovative big box development design can regenerate, rather than destroy lowland hardwood forest habitat corridors within the expanding city of Portland. Using the model Nature in Neighborhoods ordinance as a guide, and Landscape Urbanism theory as a framework, the proposal is informed by time based, economic and ecological systems to provide an adaptive development model for the shift from fossil fuel dependency to a more localized economy. Particular attention is given to the thresholds at which commercial development meets natural systems. Rather than seeing these interactions as points of confrontation, they are approached as environments of unique richness—a synergy of both habitats akin to an ecotone: the transitional area between two ecosystems containing more diversity and biotic activity than singular habitats.

Part II will provide an engaging visual investigation of the recent trend of Veg.itecture and its impact on the allied professions of architecture and landscape architecture – including the representative, descriptive, and technical. This concept builds on and transcends our current implementation of simple rooftop gardens, ecoroofs, and living walls to encompass a holistic and integrated approach to design intervention that blurs the lines between landscape and architecture. Topics include a definition of the concept, including the eight common typologies of veg.itecture in action, and how this phenomenon impacts and expands the practice of landscape architecture. In addition to providing this veg.itectural primer, the presentation will include a survey of recent projects from around the world as featured on Jason King’s blog Landscape+Urbanism including the work of Ken Yeang, Jean Nouvel, Patrick Blanc, Hundertwasser, Urbanarbolismo, James Corner, Mass Studies, and many more.

There will be time at the end for a thorough discussion of both topics, offering the chance to discuss, dispute, expand, and question these exciting topics that have current and future resonance for our profession.

When: April 14, 5:30pm Where: Group Mackenzie, 1515 SE Water Avenue, Suite 100, Portland Cost: Free to OR-ASLA members; Non-Members: $20, Emerging Professionals (0-5 years) $10

PDH credits available.

Independence Station - LEED Platinum

The popular green building blog Jetson Green published an end-of-the-year post '33 Stunning LEED Platinum Projects', which featured a post on GreenWorks project - Independence Station.  The mixed-use project, located in downtown Independence, Oregon is on track to become the highest rated LEED building in the world, currently projecting a final tally of 64 points (based on current estimates).  Working with inspirational developer Steven Ribeiro, from Aldeia Development,  along with a team from Ankrom-Moisan Associated Architects,  Johnson Controls, Balzhiser & Hubbard Engineers, and Green Building Services, to name a few - the project is maximizing site regeneration through net zero water use, rainwater harvesting,  restoration of open spaces, rooftop ecoroofs with photovoltaics, rooftop terraces, green walls, and a range of other sustainable features throughout.

Read more about the project at Worlds Greenest Building.