newly planted - November 12, 2010

Early Summer - June 22, 2011

Late Summer - September 12, 2011

After Fertilization - April 20, 2012

The issue with CDRC has been found at a number of local roofs, and leads many roofs established with cuttings to move towards a more ‘stressed’ condition of red foliage, and some plant sparseness.  The C-Wing project at OHSU, now in its second season, is going through a similar issue, and will benefit from some early spring fertilization, which should make the sedums pop while still maintaining the color bands and texture difference.

The HRC Project has a somewhat different issue… as it is shady and hasn’t had the amount of stress.  The roof is looking really nice even with the lack of sunlight during winter months, and ferns, strawberry, and other shade-loving plants are thriving.  There are a few sedum species that tolerate shade, and these are doing ok, but are slow to fill in.  The plan is to take some of the plants that are doing better and supplement other areas to provide more soil and to allow areas to fill in more.  This amount of shade was definitely a challenge, but overall has been a success.

Strawberry and ferns are lush in contrast with the blue glass ‘stream’ meandering throughout the roof.

At the upcoming Ecoroof Symposium, OHSUs Chad Sorber will be presenting lesson’s learned on maintenance of rooftop projects at OHSU, which will include many of these projects.  As we have shown, the learning curve and accumulation of knowledge on all of these projects is on-going, and requires good communication between designers, manufacturers, contractors, owners, and maintenance staff to keep projects looking good and functioning correctly.  The fine-tuning and course corrections on projects doesn’t happen by merely planting and walking away – but by continual study and adjustments using everyone’s collective knowledge.  The results, however, speak for themselves.

The charged terms of landscape and urbanism is at the root of much of what we do as landscape architects, and the continuation of the dialogue is neither self-indulgent academic posturing or co-opting of terms for hollow, market driven means.  The editors mission for the series, and this issues, is ‘to contribute to the challenge of the urbanist to synthesize worldviews, ideas and theories by exposing different and sometimes opposing perspectives on urbanism.” (p.2)

I hope, at least in a somewhat tongue in cheek, yet totally serious way, to have aided in the debate.  The entire issue with worth checking out, so Read the entire issue here, or click here to download a PDF of the individual article  (3.2 MB file)

Big thanks to Edwin Hans for his assistance on getting the essay published!

The Oregonian mentioned the project as well, along with a mention in the Daily Journal of Commerce, along with a recent announcement of donations from both Adidas and the Portland Timbers.  A view from Killingsworth shows the configuration of the roof, which will include 4,000 square feet of vegetation along the south side.

rendering by Scott | Edwards Architecture

The project will be funded by the City of Portland Ecoroof Incentive as part of the contract with the Green Above Ground team that includes Snyder Roofing of Oregon, Teufel Landscape, and Verde.  A major component of our project will include mentoring and workforce development for green roof construction and roofing through project partners to give minority workers additional skills in the sustainable industries.

KPTV Channel 12 also had a longer story about the court, showing the need in the neighborhood.  Stay tuned for more buzz as the project continues to take shape.

OHSU - Hatfield Research Center - photo by Casey Cunningham

This makes me excited to update the previously developed infographic from September 2010 which showcased the overall total square footage of rooftop projects that I have worked on throughout the years – which doesn’t include many of the projects from the last two years.

Look for an update of this soon – as we have peaked above 3 acres of built work, and are well on our way to 4 acres!

A couple of nice bits of press for the Cully Community Garden, and the larger park process. First, an article in El Hispanic News by Julie Cortez on ‘Building Cully Park” asks the question “Can a new model for development bring health, wealth, and equity to a neighborhood?”  A snapshot from the previous site visit for the stakeholders and Metro Capital Grants folks led by Tony Defalco, LUBCP coordinator, offered a chance for dialogue and to see the larger site – which as Tony mentions,  is “…a chance to restore essentially a mountain of trash into a community asset.”

As mentioned in the article, the approach is different, but involvement in the community and provision of park and recreation opportunities are both equally important to a community that has been marginalized and lacks access to nature and good food..  As mentioned in the article:  “Local residents have already received training and experience in gathering soil samples to ensure safe human usage, and elementary and junior high students at Scott School have helped plan the layout of the community garden. Once park construction begins, workers will be hired from the Cully neighborhood and from the diverse clientele of the Living Cully organizations.”

Portland Public Schools

On that note, a a video by Portland Public Schools documented the design process for the Community Garden at Cully Park with a great video that shows the students hard at work, and offers some input from some of the participants.  Go to the link and look in the right sidebar for the video (sorry not embeddable)  and check it out.

TERRA.fluxus is working with the team on landscape architecture and stormwater design and green roof, as mentioned in the article:  “… the building will feature flow-through planters for stormwater management, low-flow and high-efficient appliances, and green rooftops… the team is targeting a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design platinum rating.”

Zooming in a bit, you see some of the detail of raised metal cutouts, and some of the simple habitat-friendly sentiments.

The features themselves are simple, but illuminate four major elements.  First, is the ‘Stick Stack’ which is created to provide habitat for small insects and other macro invertebrates that reside alongside us in the urban realm.

Second is a simple stone birdbath, which provides water for many species, including birds and small mammals.

Third is a tall snag log, which also has been drilled around the trunk to provide nesting spaces for mason bees.

Finally, a red-flowering sculpture will house hummingbird feeders, and augment the attractions of the native plantings on the planting areas and living walls.

All sculptures and metal work by Ivan McLean, with words from Metro, and graphics by TERRA.fluxus.

And the adapted version based on these concepts, maintaining the vision of the students and refining the project somewhat to look at constructability, pathway layout and access, and grading on the slope.  The 20×20 plots allow for a range of uses, such as for one family, two couples (10×20′ plots), or four individuals (10×10′ plots).  There are also raised beds in the accessible area, a large group plot for community farming, and terraces along the slope.  Other features include a micro-orchard for fruit trees, along with a community gathering/picnic zone, in addition to seating, sheds, and other community garden amenities.

The final product will be the blueprint as we move forward to finalizing budget, permitting, and constructing the garden.

The THINK.urban concepts were developed alongside working alongside our urban leader,  BikePortland.org founder Jonathan Maus, who presented the challenge:

“Now it’s time to do the big projects that present a challenge to politicians and the status quo, but that also present an exciting opportunity for the health of our city. But what we’re missing is a a truly game-changing bikeway that connects a Portland neighborhood to the city center. How might we create a major new bikeway that helps make bicycling as visible, safe, convenient, and pleasant for as many people as possible?”

One aspect of the system design included branding and system graphics, which were envisioned as a chain which evoked the idea of links – the system became a noun and a verb – PDX LINK – seen with the ‘green’ paint inside as well, which reflected the plans for the concept to increase wayfinding of bike routes.

Another aspect was to incorporate the existing quadrant system, each acting as a link in the chain of PDX LINK.  The radiating graphic below depicts the 5 quadrants, a play on geography that makes Portland a unique place to live.  Each quad, including North, gets a unique color scheme, along with a simple 2 letter designation that is also incorporated into signage and other graphics.

There was a conceptual mapping component as well including our proposal for two-way cycletracks on main routes, connected by the wayfinding based on quadrants – which is seen above.  Each of these ‘highways’ would be located within 1 miles of all residents and businesses, and fed by a system of local streets.

Starting with these major roadways, the further development of a hierarchy of bike routes, from major Highways and Boulevards, to less traveled Corridors and Greenways – nested inside one another for a complete system.  A snapshot of a portion of downtown shows these designations.

The final piece was conceptual sketches – simple before and after graphics to showcase the new idea, on the street.  We did a number of them connecting the Cully Neighborhood in Northeast Portland to the Downtown core, using no ‘back street solutions’.

The first starts on NE 57th, with a heavily vegetated buffer providing necessary separation from the traffic to ensure safety for riders.

    Before

The second is located along East Burnside – where we are recoupling the one-way to include a two way bike route connected across to downtown.

   Before

Another option is downtown, along SW Broadway, where the existing cycle-track was expanded near Portland State University.  Note wayfinding and access to multiple modes of transportation throughout.

   Before

We did many more graphics, which will get shared down the line.   A few more ‘after’ shots include Sandy Boulevard and the Burnside Bridge.  The opportunity to make ‘cycling an everyday thing’ offers the ability to go for a ride with your favorite dog, or stop by for some roadside bike-powered gelato, and take the whole family for a ride to the Saturday Market.  A safe, connected and legible system can make Portland a world-class bike city.

Hopefully these images help in that effort.

The snippet from the article below:

One small piece of the project that is progressing is development of a 30,000-square-foot community garden. Hipolito said the garden will not sit on the actual landfill, so it’s clear to move forward.  Portland-based landscape architecture firm TERRA.fluxus is working with students at Harvey Scott School to design the garden. Principal landscape architect Jason King said it’s an effort to help instill a sense of ownership.  “We’ve been facilitating the process through to kind of guide (the students) in the right path but really not be too heavy-handed about designing it for them – letting them be the ultimate authors of the garden,” King said.

King said the trial-and-error process of deciding where to place planters, faucets, tables and other amenities has resonated well with the students. He said they are starting to ask bigger-picture design questions, like how an entrance will work in conjunction with the larger park, and whether raised planter beds should be made more accessible for elderly populations.  “They’re starting to make that next layer of connections,” he said.  King said that only about $45,000 is available for garden development, so his company is donating its time to the project.

“I think the idea that you can actually create some usable spaces with landfill space … particularly in the Cully neighborhood, it’s a great opportunity because there is such a deficit of usable green space in that neighborhood that it just makes a lot of sense in that way,” he said.

Read more about the project here.