t e r r a . f l u x u s

22nd Jun2010

Holding Patterns – Recognition for Urban Voids Matrix

by Jason King

The array of solutions to Seattle’s call for ideas ‘Holding Patterns‘ have been unveiled, and the TERRA.fluxus proposal (along with Kelley Roy from Sassafras Consulting, and Kelly Rodgers from Confluence Planning) for Urban Voids Matrix and its ‘Modular Approach to Building a Sustainable City’ has garnered one of 13 honorary mentions to complement the 13 winning solutions. An image showing various iterations of temporary usage for sites from our proposal is found below.

Check out the amazing collection of ideas that this quick competition generated – and soon begin to see some of these ideas pop up in selected sites around Seattle. And more locally, look forward to more work on urban voids, as a much more expansive idea for identification and use of vacant sites is underway with a range of contributors.

Category : agriculture, announcements, awards, community, competitions, installations, landscape, planning, seattle, thoughts, urban voids, urbanism

1 Comm

21st Jun2010

Emerson Street Garden Takes Shape

by Jason King

Working with Groundwork Portland, the Emerson Street Garden is beginning to take shape, as concepts have been whittled down from three alternatives into a preferred layout through the design workshops. The groundbreaking ceremony and celebration is scheduled for July, and the concept design will provide a blueprint for the eventual garden configuration.

The design is still in flux, but here’s an image of the bones of the garden as it takes shape – featuring neighborhood history, art, educational areas, orchard, raised beds, and large areas for garden production. Another feature is the tool shed that is being built by the Oregon Tradeswomen, Inc. working with summer programs of middle- and high-school girls to provide exposure to construction trades. Stay tuned for updates on this project throughout the summer.

Category : agriculture, announcements, brownfields, community, environmental, food, graphics, installations, landscape, planning, portland, projects, urban voids

1 Comm

17th Jun2010

Oregon Sustainability Experience

by Jason King

TERRA.fluxus is happy to be part of the growing Oregon Sustainability Experience, now in it’s third year. The collaborative multi-day event is convened by The Oregon Business Council, The Oregon University System and E3: Employers for Education Excellence. In past years, Jason King has helped to lead a downtown tours of the Pearl district and discussed the integration of landscape into the urban realm. He also has contributed presentations on stormwater, green infrastructure, and veg.itecture (ecoroofs and roof terraces) to round out discussions of sustainability locally and abroad. This year offers the chance to be involved in a larger section of the 5 day events, which should be rewarding as the interaction with participants has been one of the highlights.

The two tracks cover a pair of elements that fit into the work of TERRA.fluxus – now I just wish I could clone myself to work on both the urban environments and sustainable agriculture tracks. Some information on the program below:

“Oregon has earned a reputation of leadership in sustainability and is a living laboratory of successes, challenges, and on-going experiments. The Oregon Sustainability Experience allows participants to explore this rich environment, with hands-on learning from innovators in sustainability in four sectors: business, university, government, and not-for-profit. The 2010 program offers two distinct tracks: Sustainable Agriculture & Food Systems and Sustainable Urban Built Environments.

With an emphasis on field exploration and hands-on discovery, participants will meet and interact with nationally recognized business leaders and experts who have put sustainability at the forefront of their work. For professionals, the five-day program offers a shortcut to months of expensive training – providing knowledge that can deliver an immediate return in setting the direction for new programs and strategies, benchmarking best practices and the latest methods, and building a direct connection with fellow leaders. For graduate students, the program accelerates their research and provides real-world advancement on these topics—along with building a network within their industry.”

To register for the Oregon Sustainability Experience and see for yourself, please visit their website for more details.

Category : agriculture, announcements, community, environmental, planning, portland, presentations, sustainability, tours, urbanism

1 Comm

15th Jun2010

First & Main Grand Opening

by Jason King

Last week marked the grand opening of First+Main – the first new major office building in downtown Portland since the Fox Tower was completed in 2000. Jason King was lead designer and project manager while at GreenWorks PC (the landscape architecture firm responsible for the work) and attended the event with Principal Mike Faha and Landscape Designer Maia Zampini, who was instrumental in the project success. Amidst the revelry including views of the amazing lobby space, we took a tour of the fourth floor roof terrace and noted the progress through a wet spring growing season.

Some pics from the gray (but not rainy!) day last week showed off the diverse plant palette, here, the northern section of the roof show trees beginning to fill out, and woody material is healthy and growing, along with the ornamental grasses. Due to our wet spring, the irrigation system hasn’t been used to date, and the cistern is brimming and ready to provide supplemental watering to the plantings through the heat of summer.

Our strange weather has definitely confused some of the plantings, with Star Magnolias just ready to bloom, and other perennials definitely behind schedule on their flowering cycles. The joys of landscape is it’s always unpredictable.

Another part of the roof that looked amazing were the extensive ecoroof sections (6″ soil depth) that were planted with a diverse mix of succulents and perennials for a vibrant tapestry of color and texture. These areas have filled in substantially, and offer a wonderful groundcover to the spaces.

Congrats to everyone involved in the project, including Shorenstein, GBD Architects, Gerding-Edlen, PAE Consulting Engineers, HHPR (Civil), KPFF (Structural) and many others who made this project a reality. Also kudos to Hoffman Construction, Snyder Roofing and Teufel Landscape and related trades for an amazing job with the detailed roof implementation. I also ran into Zach Suchara from Luma Lighting Design, who said he would send over some nighttime pics showing off the array of LED accents. Will post those soon.

Category : ecoroofs, images, landscape, planting, portland, projects, roof gardens, vegitecture

0 Comm

07th Jun2010

Community Gardens Signing Ceremony

by Jason King

Earlier this month was the culmination of the process to address the shortage of area community gardens, working with the Oregon Solutions led-process involving a group of multidisciplinary partners. Jason King from TERRA.fluxus was involved as the chair of the garden demand working group, and also worked on a map of community-gardens and gardening resources throughout the community.

The team celebrates after Wednesday night's signing ceremony

A recent announcement from Portland Commissioner Nick Fish highlighted the group accomplishments:

“We have some exciting news to report about community gardens! Last fall, to address the growing demand for community gardens, the Mayor and I launched an Oregon Solutions project. Working with dozens of community partners, we developed a plan to address several areas of need. Already, we:

Developed a Community Gardens Toolkit to help Portlanders connect with local resources.

Updated our maps to include school gardens, faith-based gardens, and the newest gardens in the City’s Community Gardens program.

Created a phone bank to better communicate with folks on the waiting list for plots.

Committed, as part of the Climate Action Plan, to adding at least 1,000 plots by 2012.

We are developing exciting new partnerships and securing new financial support, from organizations like the East and West Multnomah Soil and Water Conservation Districts. I am passionate about community gardens: they foster a sense of community, encourage us to engage in healthy outdoor activities, and connect us to the food we eat in a truly meaningful way. And the surplus food goes to local food banks to help those in need. Working with our community partners, and building on the blueprint we developed through the Oregon Solutions project, we are working hard to deliver more home-grown food to Portlanders than ever before.”

TERRA.fluxus earned a special recognition in the final product of the process, the Declaration of Cooperation (pdf file), which highlighted key elements of the process and contributions from all members of the team: “With technical assistance from Jason King, landscape architect, and Maren Murphy of Depave, and input from several Team members, mapping of community gardens and growing food needs and resources was begun and will be maintained within the city’s Bureau of Planning and Sustainability.”

Check out a small version of the map below, or download the full version here.