Confluence Project Featured this Week on OPB's "Think Out Loud"

Tomorrow's Oregon Public Broadcasing "Think Out Loud" broadcast will feature Artist Maya Lin and the Confluence Projects for which GreenWorks is providing landscape architectural services.  Artist Maya Lin and Confluence Executive Director Jane Jacobsen will be sitting in with host Emily Harris at 9 a.m. Thursday  to discuss Ms. Lin's approach to the series of interpretive sites in Oregon and Washington along the major rivers of the Pacific Northwest. Individual sites are located along the Snake, Columbia, and Sandy Rivers and include site developments in support of Ms. Lin's artwork, including:  viewpoints and overlooks, trails, parking, comfort stations, fish cleaning stations, information kiosks and other site facilities.  GreenWorks is responsible for detailed site design for multiple sites as well as leading an interdisciplinary team of engineers, designers, architects and regulatory professionals in the development of these sites.

You can listen to the broadcast and learn more at:

http://www.opb.org/thinkoutloud/shows/maya-lin-and-confluence-project/

Early Head Start Playground Breaks Ground at Clackamas Community College

After a few months of intensive design, the children at the Clackamas Community College's Early Head Start are starting to see their playground take shape.  Little hands grasping the chain link construction fence and eyes set on the excavator, they wait patiently as the sea of bark chips is replaced with a natural area for creative play.

The Clackamas County Children’s Commission (CCCC) is a non-profit organization that serves children in Clackamas County. Their Early Head Start play space was in need of upgrades. The equipment was out dated and not meeting the physical needs of the young children.

GreenWorks worked with CCCC to develop a plan that fit within their limited space, met development requirements of younger children and offered an alternative play experience from traditional playground equipment. The nature based playground design includes an embankment slide, sand play area, trike loop, potting shed play house, lush planting and timber climbers. GreenWorks helped the client re-invision how to use the existing covered space for additional all season play, how to incorporate appropriate storage, and how play surfacing could extend social areas for music, arts, and classroom activities.

Astoria Waterfront Visioning Wins Excellence in Coastal Communities Award

Hard work and great planning continues to pay off for GreenWorks’ contribution to the Astoria Waterfront Visioning Plan.  The project was recently honored with the Excellence in Local Government Planning: City of Astoria award for efforts at urban and waterfront revitalization, in particular the Riverfront Vision Plan by the Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development’s Oregon Coastal Management Program.

GreenWorks assisted with this comprehensive waterfront visioning plan concentrating on accessibility, circulation, open space, parks, trails, and sustainable solutions.  The work focused on capturing the character of Astoria identifying, which characteristics are unique and well loved within the community and providing imagery, plans, and strategies to guide future community development.  This award complements the Astoria Riverfront’s national honors received for educating the community about the value of cultural and natural resources from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration received earlier this year.

Rockwood/E 188th Avenue MAX Station is Under Construction

Construction of the redesigned 23-year old Rockwood/E 188th Avenue MAX Station on Tri-Met’s original MAX Blue Line serving the Rockwood Neighborhood of Gresham is under construction and rapidly moving towards completion, which is set to open March 2011. The existing eastbound MAX station alignment is moving to the west of E 188th Avenue directly adjacent to the existing westbound platform. This project will specifically improve pedestrian safety and the experience of users while also creating a unique MAX station that will enhance the identity of the Rockwood neighborhood. New station elements include: MAX shelters with transparent windscreens, ticket vending machines and platform furnishings, improved lighting and security cameras, treatment of stormwater from the station in vegetated stormwater facilities, surrounding station landscape planting and most prominently two large public art features located at each of the station entrances. This project is being coordinated with the Gresham Redevelopment Commission’s Rockwood in Motion infrastructure improvement projects in the Rockwood triangle area.

New Public Art Dedicated at the Center for the Arts Plaza

A special dedication event was held on Saturday October 23rd to dedicate four new pieces of public art recently installed at the Gresham Center for the Arts Plaza. The works of art, collectively named FineTunedTulle by Seattle based artist Claudia Fitch, was commissioned by the Center for the Arts Foundation and was made possible by private donations to the Foundation. The event featured a number of different presentations and activities centered on art work's theme, which is representative of the different art forms. There was a dance performance by young aspiring ballerinas, reading of poetry, performance by the Portland Brass Quartet, an ‘Instrument Petting Zoo’ and arts and crafts tables for interactive kid activities. The quartet of forms, which range in height from 18 to 27 feet in height, serve as colorful beacons at the plaza’s door step. Construction of the plaza, designed by GreenWorks, was completed in June of 2009 and serves as the City of Gresham’s living room, where many public events and performances have already been held. The plaza is the first step in realizing a vision for an arts district in downtown Gresham that will be centered on the plaza.

Silver Falls Nature Play Area Breaks Ground!

Silver Falls State Park has been taking advantage of the nice weather the last few weeks and they have begun to clear, and grade the natural play areas and interpretive path. With the help of the county inmate work crew and a few dedicated volunteers they have transplanted many native plants, cleared 5 play areas and ¼ of a mile loop trail. Park staff will spend some of their time this winter fabricating play components, signage and interpretive elements for installation next spring and summer. In hard economic times creativity can help get a project completed. Oregon Park and Recreation Staff have been work with a Marion County Inmate Crew to implement the first stages to the project. Koin Local 6 was on site last week to check in on the crew’s progress. You can see their story and video footage here.

The park is looking for parks volunteers to help finish the construction. There are opportunities for artists, scout troops, families and other citizens with a range of skills. Let us know if you are interested in helping construct this nature based play area. We can find a task that meets your skills and commitment level.

You should be able to enjoy the nature play area starting in the summer of 2011.

GreenWorks Receives Julian Prize for Sustainability in Public Works

GreenWorks recently received the Julian Prize for Demonstrating Sustainability in Public Works based on their development guidelines work for the Clean Water Services Low Impact Development (LID) Approaches Handbook.

“The award recognizes individuals, practices or projects that showcase the role of public works in furthering the principles of sustainability. The awards are intended to recognize systems thinking, long term design practices, and infrastructure systems that sustain society. The awards are intended to further APWA’s purpose of education and recognition of excellence.” – APWA Oregon Chapter

GreenWorks worked with Clean Water Services to complement and update their current design and construction standards. The Handbook encourages the use of and simplifies the application of low impact development approaches that improve water quality and attenuate stormwater flows for the Tualatin River Watershed. GreenWorks created a series of easy-to-read sketches and fact sheets that clearly show what current LID applications look like and how best to apply them through illustrative diagrams, explanatory text and photographs.

Final Phase of Construction on Denver Avenue Completed

The second phase of construction on Denver Avenue in the Historic commercial district of the Kenton Neighborhood of North Portland has been completed. This phase of construction included the installation of new street paving using a new concrete pavement technique called Ultra Thin White Topping (UTW). The top 2”-3” of existing asphalt roadway was ground down and removed, and the concrete topping mix was laid down on top of the remaining existing asphalt base. Once the concrete has set, score joints were saw cut at a tighter spacing interval than standard concrete. Integral pigment was added to the concrete used for the intersections and parking aisles to distinguish these zones from drive lanes and to provide additional visual interest and traffic calming. This phase of construction completes streetscape improvements for the historic Kenton commercial district, which features widened sidewalks, new street trees, ornamental street lighting, storm water planters, accent paving, custom benches incorporating public art and bike lanes. These improvements will serve as a catalyst for the revitalization of the Kenton Neighborhood.

A public dedication and ribbon cutting ceremony to commemorate the completion of this project will be held on Thursday November 18th at 2:00 pm. Please join Mayor Sam Adams, Portland Bureau of Transportation, Portland Development Commission, Kenton Business Owners and neighborhood residents for the celebration.

GreenWorks Presents "137 Green Street Facilities in 4 Days" at Fall 2010 APWA Conference

Dave Elkin and Tim Strand recently presented their work with the City of Portland's Columbia Slough Watershed group that produced an inventory of stormwater treatment facilities in four high priority stormwater outfall target areas within industrialized areas of the Columbia Slough Watershed. During a four day process, the project team evaluated 109 acres of public right-of-way and identified over 130 green street facilities that would potentially treat stormwater runoff from 39 acres of impermeable surfaces. The results of the inventory were cataloged in a Stormwater Inventory & Prioritization GIS database, which was used to evaluate facility performance, design & construction feasibility, cost information, and supplemental benefits for each facility.

 

       

Pendleton Round-Up Celebrates 100th Anniversary

Sept 15-18, 2010 marked the 100th Year Anniversary of the legendary Pendleton Round-Up, an annual rodeo event that brings 50,000 people every year to the city of Pendleton, Oregon. GreenWorks worked with the Round-Up Association, the City of Pendleton, and ODOT to complete three high priority projects in time for the celebration, which include a new landscape gateway into downtown, Round-Up streetscape frontage improvements and Centennial Plaza, and a new Riverfront Park on the Umatilla River.