The new urban plan for South Waterfront includes a 1-1/2 mile extension of downtown’s waterfront parks and the reclamation of the Willamette River for public recreation. The design team worked closely with the City of Portland, developers, and natural resource advocates to strike a balance between development, recreation and re-naturalization of this neglected post-industrial waterfront. Extensive public outreach and charrettes with the community and other stakeholders required reconciling disparate and conflicting goals about the extent of development, re-naturalization and public access to the river.
The schematic design achieved broad consensus and, together with design guidelines, is a comprehensive guide to the incremental mixed-use and park development that will follow. The park is first and foremost dedicated to the restoration of a post-industrial waterfront as a naturalized river edge and riparian habitat. The dense mixed-use development planned along its edge, as well as pedestrian and bike trails, placed the need for access at odds with the habitat goals. Working closely with environmental advocates, the design team devised a rational plan for the park, which strategically places access and activity in “moments” and nodes without compromising the newly-formed habitats. These spaces range from dramatic cantilevered pier overlooks, boat launches and active civic plazas to quiet, sloping lawns meadows and terraces. These spaces, along with the shoreline trail and bikeway, are all intended to serve the park’s diverse constituency and are connected to the city’s riverwalk, bikeway, tramway and light rail systems.
The design celebrates a rich, Native American and industrial logging and ship building heritage with a landscape narrative of cranes, ship’s bows, terraces, log overlooks and bargeways; all expressed in the 21st century design language of our current culture. While South Waterfront Park is unique to Portland’s cultural and historical heritage, it is a model for new urban waterfront parks across the country that must now meet a combination of environmental, cultural and growth goals on common ground.
Gateway Mall Master Plan
The Gateway Mall runs 18 blocks through the center of downtown St. Louis, terminating at the famous Eero Saarinen Arch, and provides a green spine in which the downtown’s workers, residents, and visitors can relax and celebrate urban living.
The mall never fully lived up to the potential envisioned by the civic leaders at the time of its inception. Thom...
Downtown Flushing Framework
The development framework for Downtown Flushing seizes on the unique and significant attributes of the area and connects them into a cohesive whole, implementing improvements to the public realm and incentivizing high-quality private development. The framework builds upon the rich history and cultural diversity of Downtown Flushing; the study area currently e...
East Riverfront Visions Plan
What is now three miles of underutilized and neglected waterfront property is envisioned as a vibrant new mixed-use community, with a dramatic ribbon of riverfront parks and walkways that are intertwined with small neighborhoods and upland connections. A new open space system was conceived and given form as a critical component of the vision plan in which Tho...
Guiyang CBD
In the heart of Guizhou province lies China’s Forest City: Guiyang. Nestled on the banks of the Nanming River, today’s Guiyang is a vibrant metropolis poised to play a significant role in the rapid development of inland China. The Nanming Riverfront Cultural Central Business District Master Plan, led by SOM, leverages this potential and proposes Guiyang as the...