Planning and Design Currently Underway for Gateway Green Open Space

Gateway Green is a 35-acre parcel of mostly vacant land and located at the intersection of two interstate highways in Portland, Oregon and adjacent to the Gateway Urban Renewal area. The land is owned by the City of Portland Bureau of Parks and Recreation. Planning and design is currently underway for Phase One development of the property. The project began as an effort of local land owners and open space advocates in an effort to catalyze economic growth in outer east Portland. On a pro-bono basis, designers collaborated with local stakeholders to create a program and vision for Gateway Green. Through conversations and input from technical experts and the community a vision for the site was developed that identified the following project goals:

• Improving environmental conditions, especially water and air quality, and wildlife habitat.
• Providing a regional recreational destination, especially for bicycle and pedestrian opportunities.
• Providing open space and a possible branding opportunity for adjacent Gateway Regional Center and surrounding neighborhoods.
• Highlighting Portland’s evolving sustainable marketplace and expressing our region’s use of sustainable design solutions.

As part of the six-month project the design team conducted a one-day community charrette to develop the design of the initial concept plan. After development of the preliminary vision the team conducted technical review meetings to ensure the technical viability of concept options, approaches, details, and strategies. A final presentation of the revised vision plan was then presented to the community. The Gateway Green vision plan demonstrates a commitment to sustainability, puts the property to better use for the good of the community, and sets an example for reclamation and reuse of surplus or underused properties around the country.

Paradise Under the Asphalt

Last weekend, GreenWorkers pitched in at Astor Elementary School’s depaving where a group of 100 volunteers spent a Saturday removing 5,000 square feet of asphalt. The demolition was orchestrated by Depave (depave.org) whose mission is to assist communities in transforming their pavement lots into neighborhood greenspaces. The asphalt removal is making way for a new playground which includes a turf mound, group swings, tree groves, and a custom log and boulder climber. GreenWorks was directly hired by Astor PTSO to design the playground which is on schedule for construction this summer.

Confluence Site Dedication

The Confluence Project recently held a dedication for the Confluence Listening Circle  at Chief Timothy Park near Clarkston, Washington. Check out the video below to see highlights from the ceremony. You can find out more about the project here.

Dedication Ceremony for Confluence Listening Circle at Chief Timothy Park from Confluence Project on Vimeo.

Westmoreland Recognized by Americans for the Arts

 

Westmoreland Nature-Base Play Area was honored as one of the best public art projects of the year by Americans for the arts. Click here for more details.

Marshall Park Dedication This Weekend!

What is a Log Dog?

We hear this a lot in reference to the art feature of the Clay Street Green Street project in Portland’s Central Eastside Industrial District (CEID). The Log Dog sculptures incorporated into the Clay Street swales reference and celebrate the district’s industrial past. In the 19th Century, the lumber industry used the Willamette River as a conduit for transporting logs to the lumber mills established along the banks of the river. Logs were tied together into rafts and piloted down the Willamette in massive convoys. These log rafts where chained together by cable that ran through attachments known as log dogs. The historic log dogs were like thick needles, driven into the floating logs before a cable was pulled through the eye and cinched to bundle them together, creating a raft. GreenWorks designed the streetscape for a 12-block section of SE Clay Street. Working with KPFF and artist, Linda M. Wysong, the green street provides a pedestrian friendly corridor from the Ladd’s Addition neighborhood to the Eastbank Esplanade, strengthening connectivity and improving the pedestrian realm. The green street honors the industrial district’s history through the art installations and interpretive elements. GreenWorks has contributed to the redevelopment of Portland’s Central Eastside Industrial District (CEID) over the last decade through improvements to the Clay Street Right of Way / RiverEast pedestrian plaza and most recently with Clay Street Green Street. The completed project provides sustainable environmental benefits, including vegetated stormwater management, pedestrian and bicycle passage, and strategies that maintain freight movement and business activities throughout the CEID.

The project’s artist describes the inspiration on the Clay Street Log Dog: “The Wetlands were filled, the mill erected and a city built. The land is transformed as the water continues to flow. It may seep into the earth or be hidden by stone and concrete, but it continues to connect, sustain and give form to our lives. Honor and protect the river.” Linda M. Wysong, artist

Bend Whitewater Park (Formerly known as Colorado Dam Safe Passage Project)

The Colorado Avenue Dam improvements are well underway. Photos show the construction of the three channels in the Deschutes River: (1) a safe passage channel for boaters, paddleboarders and tubers, (2) a whitewater surfpark with four wave features and (3) a natural area with enhanced fish and wildlife habitat. The river will also have improved access from a new pedestrian bridge. There will be a gathering to celebrate the whitewater surfpark on May 27th from 6-11pm at the Volcanic Theatre Pub. Check out the Bend Paddle Trail Alliance for more details.

Green Innovations from Portland BES

Portland Bureau of Environmental Services has created a video about green innovations within the city. You can check out the video on their website or below.

Mirror Pond, Celilo Falls and Centennial Mills in the news

Recently, a few of GreenWorks' projects have been in the press. In early November, The Bend Bulletin published the preferred graphics for Mirror Pond. Check out the article to see what GreenWorks and Inter-Fluve have planned for the iconic site in Bend, Oregon. You can also view the graphics below.

The DJC also published two articles regarding Celilo Falls and Centennial Mills, projects that GreenWorks has been working on for some time. You can read them here and here.

Portland’s first official nature play area is officially open!

On any given day, Portland’s brand new nature-based play area at Westmoreland Park is packed with up to a hundred kids playing in the sand and water area, climbing on the boulder and log climbing features, or building forts with large sequoia branches. Parents are not only watching the imaginative play that all the natural elements inspire, but are also participating with the kids to explore the play area’s unique features. Located in the Sellwood-Moreland neighborhood of Portland, Westmoreland Nature Play Area was born of the desire to update the existing outdated play area and replace it with a 100% custom nature-based play environment. The total play area is approximately one acre and allows families to build their own play experience.  The project received a 2014 Honor Award from the Oregon Chapter of American Society of Landscape Architects. GreenWorks was selected by Portland Parks & Recreation (PP&R) to update the existing outdated playground and replace it with a 100% custom nature-based play environment. PP&R recognized the value in nature-based play for local children and proposed that the Westmoreland Playground be a pilot project for a natural play environment. GreenWorks worked with the client, public, and design team to define how nature-based play would function for this particular site. The design team included environmental artist, Adam Kuby. Adam not only helped envision individual artistic elements within the park as play features, but also collaborated with the design team on the overall conceptual design of the playground that represents the restoration of the adjacent Crystal Springs.