Category: portland
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Where the Revolution Began
The passing of Lawrence Halprin has close ties to an upcoming book that is being released this weekend celebrating his legacy in Portland. This Saturday is a chance to celebrate the legacy of Halprin in Portland, with the release of ‘Where the Revolution Began: Lawrence and Anna Halprin and the Reinvention of Public Space’. On…
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Portland Grid, revisited
The question of the efficacy of the grid system is continually interesting, and there have been some interesting conversations about this with a range of folks locally. Another resource to throw some information into this discussion is the recently released background documents in support of the Portland Plan. One worth checking out for any Portland-phile…
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Elements of Urban Agriculture
I had the opportunity today to see a presentation by local urban agriculture guru Marc Boucher-Colbert (the man behind the Rocket Restaurant rooftop garden here in Portland). Instead of focusing directly on rooftops, he outlined a broad version of urban agriculture through an investigation of a range of possible strategies for our cities. This is…
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Urban Urinals
Well in defense of the scatological, peeing in urban areas (or other specific displays of a variety of bodily functions) is something of a way of life (often in the doorway of our downtown office). Portland has become another in a line of cities experimenting with public toilets in the inner city for use by…
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Urbanism for Expanding Cities
My friend and colleague Brett Milligan and I were fortunate enough to have an article published in ‘Landscape Architecture China’ a new journal that recently published its second issue covering Landscape Urbanism. Our article titled ‘Urbanism for Expanding Cities: Designing the conjugal interface of contrasting systems’ outlined the urban frameworks that were key to our…
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Urban Chickens Build – 6
The final installment, the completion of the Chicken Cube, with ramp, some final security measures, ecoroof, and rain chain downspout. The ecoroof plants were leftovers from the Ecoroof Vendor Fair and had a diverse variety of sedums along with some native and other perennials, grasses, and herbs. The front side, with all the hardware cloth…
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Urban Chickens Build – 5
Sort of a conceptual jump cut in the process, as two weekends of rain hampered plans to make progress on the Chicken Cube… but a big push this weekend (and a loaner of the wonderful compound miter saw that I am now officially) has yielded a vision close to complete. Not too many pics of…
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Local Flavor: OSC Revealed
Last week I posted about this local project, and the process in general. The end of the Phase I feasibility study for the Oregon Sustainability Center revealed a very integrated and transparent process culminating in a potential example of cutting edge Veg.itecture in Portland – albeit in need of some visual refinement. I usually turn…
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Local Flavor: Oregon Sustainability Center
Based in Portland, Oregon I sometimes forget the fact that what we consider everyday is often innovative in the larger global scale. My blog reaches beyond to interject many global ideas into our local work, but also to place what we are doing within a larger ecological design concept. One project worth noting is the…
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Urban Chickens Build – 4
For the newly dubbed ‘Chicken Cube’, it’s ecoroof time (at least the structural components sans plants and soil). Here’s a quick summary of Sunday’s flurry of activities: :: 3/4″ plywood frame + cedar siderails :: fitting the metal soil retention edging :: some counterflashing with pond liner :: dry-fitting the liner on edges :: mechanically…