The national American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) recently honored the Portland Japanese Garden‘s Cultural Crossing project with its Award of Excellence. It’s the annual awards program’s highest honor.

Garden Curator Sadafumi Uchiyama and the project’s landscape architecture firm, Walker Macy, were part of a team that included Kengo Kuma & Associates, Hacker, KPFF Consulting Engineers and Hoffman Construction. The Award of Excellence recognized: execution of details; use of a cohesive, place-based and landscape-led design approach; design excellence and technical problem-solving; and balance between Japanese and contemporary design and construction methodologies.

“The Portland Japanese Garden posed highly complex geological, environmental and site development challenges – and we were challenged to create a place that expands the definition of what a Japanese garden can be,” Walker Macy principal landscape architect Chelsea McCann stated in a press release. “The project’s success was made possible by our creative and collaborative architecture, engineering and construction partners. With a shared vision of new garden spaces that seamlessly integrated buildings and the site, our process melded science and art to create a place of meaningful, immersive experiences. This project was truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”

Crews finished building the Cultural Crossing in April 2017. The project has garnered a number of awards, including a regional honor from Engineering News-Record and one from the American Institute of Architects‘ Portland chapter.

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Two projects in the Portland-metro area – the proposed Willamette Falls Riverwalk and the completed Yard – received honor awards recently from the American Society of Landscape Architects as part of the .

The Willamette Falls Riverwalk in Oregon City was one of four projects to receive an honor award in the analysis and planning category. The Interstate 25 Conservation Corridor Master Plan in Douglas County, Colorado, received the category’s award of excellence.

The Riverwalk, designed by Snohetta, is the anticipated first phase of a plan to remake Oregon City’s frontage of Willamette Falls. The waterfall, blocked for decades by a paper mill, is considered a potential tourist attraction.

“Here we see the combining of public access, habitat, historic and cultural interpretation, and economic development in a project that’s very tangible in terms of its potential to being implemented,” the awards jury wrote.

Snohetta is an international design firm with headquarters in Oslo, Norway, and U.S. operations based in New York City. The design firm’s client is Metro and a coalition of government agencies. The landscape architects are Mayer/Reed and Dialog Design.

Yard, a 21-story mixed-use building with a landscaped podium at the east end of the Burnside Bridge, was one of two projects to receive an honor award in the residential design category. 2.ink Studio was the landscape architect for Yard. The Balcones Residence in Austin, Texas, received the category’s award of excellence.

Yard “sets itself apart from a competitive marketplace, and the market has responded positively to it,” the awards jury wrote.

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With the emergence of autonomous motor vehicles and the surge in e-commerce, city planners are starting to ask important questions about how these technologies will impact the future of urban design.

, a University of Oregon initiative exploring these effects, has been awarded $1 million over the next five years. The grant from the Presidential Fund for Excellence will allow Urbanism Next to establish a new center, expanding on the work to examine the changes that could come with the growth of autonomous vehicles, e-commerce and the sharing economy.

Urbanism Next started about two years ago as a project under the Sustainable Cities Initiative (SCI) at UO. The creation of the center will build upon the research and partnerships already established through the initiative.

Urbanism Next lead and SCI co-director Nico Larco said the group started to realize there was research being done on the impacts on transportation, but not on the secondary effects such as street design and city planning.

“When we started looking into this and realizing the impacts these technologies are going to have, this become more of a ‘we need to get everyone thinking about this.’” he said.

With the increase in funding, the program will be able vastly increase its capacity. The center’s primary focus will be on interdisciplinary research and helping to inform public agencies, private firms and collaboration with local and national partners.

“We’re thrilled to have the support from the university,” Larco said. “There’s a strong interest in making real-world change, and it shows a strong commitment to this area of need.”

Earlier this month, more than 500 people from across the country attended the first Urbanism Next Conference. It was created through a partnership between SCI, the Oregon chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects, the American Institute of Architects – Portland, the Oregon chapter of the American Planning Association and the Urban Land Institute Northwest.

It’s the first time those four organizations have come together to talk about these topics, Urbanism Next program manager Becky Steckler said.

“We thought there was a pent-up demand for this type of thing, and we were absolutely right,” she said. “Even a year ago, this all felt like science fiction and now we’ve quickly made the transition. These are going to affect our communities.”

The new technologies are changing transportation systems and city layouts, Larco said. The work at the center will largely focus on how those changes will affect land use, street design, parking, housing and densification.

With the introduction of autonomous vehicles (AVs), one estimate says the need for parking could be reduced to 10 to 15 percent of current needs, Larco said. With so much land being made available at the same time, there could be a drop in property values with the sudden increase in supply.

On the other hand, curbside management will become an important topic, as vehicles will pick people up and drop them off throughout the day.

Larco has been leading a Portland-based emerging technology group made up of partners such as Metro, the Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability, the Portland Bureau of Transportation, TriMet, the Oregon Department of Transportation and the governor’s office.

The city of Portland has already been looking into the potential effects of autonomous vehicles. Last year the city launched a (SAVI) – a long-range policy on outcomes the city wants to see, including regulations for AVs.

That initiative will soon be incorporated into the city’s transportation plan, said Art Pearce, manager of Portland Bureau of Transportation policy, planning and projects. He oversees a group that guides transportation ideas through the long-range planning and policy, project development and construction stages – including discussions surrounding AVs.

“What do these new ideas and new technologies mean for creating a great city of the future?” Pearce said. “We’ve been working with (Larco) on developing a better understanding on where our focus should be.”

With the new regulatory policy, officials want to be explicit about the city they’re trying to build. With AVs, Pearce said there tends to be two visions of possible outcomes. In one, it will mean more vehicle miles traveled overall, causing more traffic and congestion and more people sitting in vehicles longer. The second possibility could be a future in which streets are used more efficiently with people in vehicles going to similar destinations and a reduction in parking needs.

“We’re looking at new technologies with open eyes with how they might impact our future city and the people in our city,” Pearce said.

The rise in Uber and Lyft usage could provide insight into how AVs will be used in the future, he added. To help with planning, the city will be funding a study of whether car-sharing networks cause an increase or a decrease of traffic and congestion.

“These emerging technologies are really going to direct the way we’re operating right now, so we’re going to have to (identify) these impacts and how … we respond,” Larco said.

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Participants from academia, architecture, planning, real estate and government are invited to gather in Portland for the inaugural Urbanism Next Conference at the Oregon Convention Center next month.

Urbanism Next is a University of Oregon research initiative focused on understanding how new technologies such as autonomous vehicles, e-commerce and the sharing economy affect land use, street design, land valuation and pressures on sprawl.

The conference, slated for March 5-7, will be an opportunity for stakeholders to engage in a conversation about how cities can best prepare for the changes these emerging technologies create.

The University of Oregon is partnering with the American Institute of Architects, the American Planning Association, the American Society of Landscape Architects and the Urban Land Institute to present the conference. Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore.; Robin Chase of Shared Mobility Principles for Livable Cities and Jeff Tumlin of transportation consulting firm Nelson\Nygaard will be among the speakers.

On the second day of the conference there will be 17 workshops, each focusing on a unique aspect of the challenges and opportunities presented by emerging technologies. Check out the schedule of presentations, workshops and other conference events at , and register at .

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The Portland Japanese Garden added to its list of honors recently when Engineering News-Record (ENR) named the Cultural Crossing expansion its project of the year in the Northwest region.

ENR covers trends as well as construction, engineering and architecture efforts across the country. The organization selects specific projects in individual regions, focusing largely on engineering and construction excellence.

The Japanese Garden project, completed in April 2017, was honored for its attention to detail, craftsmanship and complexity.

“It feels pretty good,” said Chelsea McCann, a Walker Macy principal. “We are absolutely honored to be given the top honors for the region.”

Walker Macy focused on the landscaping as part of a team that included Japanese architecture firm Kengo Kuma & Associates and local architecture firm Hacker. KPFF provided engineering services for the project and Hoffman Construction was the contractor.

“It was a really collaborative project,” McCann said. “We had wonderfully supportive partners and are really happy with the way it turned out.”

ENR isn’t the only organization that has taken notice of the garden expansion. Since debuting in April, it has been honored by the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) with a people’s choice award and by the American Institute of Architects (AIA).

The AIA’s Portland chapter recognized the project with its top award in its built category. The judges called it a “serene, pilgrimage-like journey from the city to the forest, drawing each visitor into a fully immersive experience of the traditional arts and culture of Japan.”

“I think what really sets this (project) apart is that the idea was to expand beyond just being a beautiful garden,” McCann said. “They actually wanted to be able do training courses for Japanese garden design. It’s an expansion as a cultural offering.”

ENR praised the intricacies of a retaining wall as well as Kengo Kuma’s designs for buildings that included irregular geometries. Fitting all of the pieces together left virtually no margin for error. To add to that challenge, construction took place during one of Portland’s snowiest winters in years.

“It was tricky,” Hacker principal Jonah Cohen said. “Hoffman (Construction) did a herculean task.”

ENR praised the end result as “one of the most authentic Japanese gardens outside of Japan.”

“Collaborating with Kengo Kuma & Associates and garden curator Sadafumi Uchiyama was a great honor and invaluable experience for Hacker as well as for me personally,” Cohen said. “The project is a true Oregon treasure.”

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Editor’s note: Teresa Chenney was misidentified in an earlier version of this story. She is a senior landscape designer and a project manager with Mayer/Reed.

The American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) has elevated Urban Rain | Design principal Kevin Robert Perry and Mayer/Reed associate Teresa Chenney to its Council of Fellows. Council status, among the top honors that members can receive, recognizes accomplishments in their profession or society at large. Members must have at least a decade of work to qualify for the honor.

Chenney and Perry were both nominated in the works category and were among 23 industry professionals across the country to be recognized.

“It’s mind-blowing,” said Chenney, a senior landscape designer and project manager. “It’s really about recognition of accomplishments through time.”

Chenney, who has tackled landscapes since 1985, is especially known for her work on public properties, corporate campuses and educational facilities. She has also worked on select transportation projects, including the MAX orange light-rail line.

ASLA chose Chenney for her contributions to the Pacific Northwest’s international reputation for outstanding public spaces and urban design, according to its website announcing the award.

Chenney has worked on projects that are as varied as the Nike campus in Beaverton, and the Eastbank Esplanade and the Oregon Convention Center rain garden in Portland.

“Being honored like this is something you have for the rest of your career,” Chenney said.

Perry’s nomination came from ASLA’s California Sierra chapter. He has an extensive portfolio of work in Northern California as well as the Portland-metro area.

“It’s a particular honor because it is by your peers,” said Perry, owner of Urban Rain | Design.

Over the years Perry has developed a reputation as a leader in integrating stormwater management with quality urban design. He has more than 45 demonstration projects in the U.S.

Many of Perry’s projects are green streets and green infrastructure. Some of his notable Portland projects include the Southwest Montgomery Green Street Concept Plan and the Northeast Holladay Green Street Corridor Plan. He also has worked on the Mount Tabor Middle School rain gardens and the Southwest 12th Avenue Green Street Project.

ASLA honored Perry for his work in water management planning and design, according to the announcement on its website.

One aspect that separates this ASLA award from others is that it is given for a body of work instead of a specific project or group of projects.

“It’s very humbling,” Chenney said. “It is a moment in time when you have a time to reflect on your career.”

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Designing environments that promote equity and diversity is a big concern of landscape architects, so they’re holding an event on just that topic.

The American Society of Landscape Architects‘ Oregon chapter on April 9 will host a symposium at the University of Oregon‘s White Stag Building, from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Oregon ASLA spokeswoman Rebecca Wahlstrom said the keynote speaker, landscape architect Diane Jones Allen, is a leader in designing for diversity and equality.

Allen was featured in the November issue of Landscape Architecture magazine for her work to convert empty lots into green community spaces in New Orleans’ Ninth Ward. She has also performed pro bono work on plans for restoring Claiborne Avenue in New Orleans, once a tree-lined boulevard that separated minority communities when it was replaced decades ago with an elevated freeway.

Allen is a principal of DesignJones LLC, a landscape architecture and urban planning firm based in New Orleans and Baltimore. Her talk is titled “Bridging Community, Practice and Academy to Create Equitable and Resilient Environments.”

Other speakers include Gabriel Diaz Montemayor of the University Texas at Austin, Nolan Lienhart of ZGF Architects, Joy Alise Davis of Design+Culture Lab and Tony DeFalco of Living Cully.

Wahlstrom said the symposium will also include a panel discussion. Attendance costs $165 for ASLA members, $200 for nonmembers and $30 for students. The symposium is co-sponsored by the John Yeon Center for Architecture and the Landscape at the University of Oregon.

The symposium will offer continuing education credits for landscape architects and also provide valuable information for people outside the profession, Wahlstrom said.

“They would be able to hear really diverse speakers and people who will touch on this topic of environmental justice and equity,” she said. “It’s something that we as landscape architects and as a culture don’t touch on enough.”

To learn more and register for the symposium, visit .

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A landscape architect and a landscape architecture professor from Oregon have been elevated to American Society of Landscape Architects Council of Fellows.

Mike Faha, founding principal of Portland-based landscape architecture and urban design firm GreenWorks, and University of Oregon landscape architecture professor Rob Ribe have been named 2015 ASLA Fellows. They will be among 37 new Fellows from across the country recognized at the 2015 ASLA Annual Meeting and EXPO, held Nov. 6-9 in Chicago.

The Oregon chapter of ASLA nominated Faha and Ribe for the honor. It is among the highest the national organization bestows on its members and recognizes contributions to the profession and society.

Faha, who founded GreenWorks in 1987, was honored for his pioneering work demonstrating that ecological function can be achieved with urbanism and aesthetic beauty. At GreenWorks, he leads planning and design teams for a variety of project types that integrate urban ecology, green infrastructure and urban design.

Ribe teaches ecological planning studios and research methods to landscape architecture, planning and environmental studies students. He is the former director of the University of Oregon’s Institute for a Sustainable Environment and led efforts to provide primary research and advice to governments in Oregon and Washington on issues of growth, ecosystem preservation and agricultural and forest productivity.

The ASLA Fellow designation recognizes exceptional accomplishments over a sustained period of time, including work, leadership, management, knowledge and service. Individuals considered for the designation must be ASLA members for at least 10 years and be recommended for the honor by their local chapter, the ASLA Executive Committee or the Executive Committee of the Council of Fellows.

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The University of Oregon‘s John Yeon Center this spring will host a lecture series on landscape architecture and urban design.

The four lectures in the series, “A New City Beautiful: Landscape + Infrastructure = Public Space,” will take place in April and May at different sites in Portland.

Randy Gragg, Yeon Center executive director, will help lead the conversations with prominent designers. Speakers include Belgian landscape architect Bas Smets; David Rubin, principal of Philadelphia-based landscape architecture firm LAND COLLECTIVE; Tilikum Crossing architect Donald MacDonald; and Michael Singer, a landscape architect and artist.

Smets will give a free lecture, “Landscape is Fiction,” on April 16 starting at 6 p.m. at Jimmy Mak’s, 221 N.W. 10th Ave. The leader of Brussels-based firm Bureau Bas Smets will discuss his design philosophy and inspirations.

Rubin’s lecture, “The City is a Landscape,” is set for April 18 at 3 p.m. at Portland State University’s Shattuck Hall. His talk will be the first Douglas Macy Lecture on Landscape Architecture, presented together with the Yeon Center by the American Society of Landscape Architects‘ Oregon chapter. The admission cost is $10 or $5 for students at the door.

The third lecture, “The Spirit of Details,” will take place May 7 at 6:30 p.m. at the Collaborative Life Sciences Building, 2730 S.W. Moody Ave. The free talk will feature three members of the team that designed the Tilikum Crossing. MacDonald will be joined by engineers Semyon Treyger and David Goodyear to discuss the bridge’s cable-stayed design.

The series will conclude on May 18 with Singer’s free lecture, “Reimagining Beauty: Creating Living Public Space,” at 6:30 p.m. in the Miller Ballroom at the Portland Art Museum, 1219 S.W. Park Ave.

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The American Society of Landscape Architects’ Oregon chapter on Friday handed out its 2014 Design Awards. The awards recognize professional and student excellence by honoring firms, individuals and agencies for outstanding works of landscape architecture and environmental planning.

Among the firms that took top honors in the competition were 2.ink Studio, Lango Hansen Landscape Architects and GreenWorks.

Portland-based 2.ink Studio took home the Award of Excellence in the general design category for the city of Portland’s Columbia Boulevard Wastewater Treatment Plant Support Facility. The firm also received a merit award in the same category for improvements to Dawson Park in Northeast Portland. The Dawson Park project also was the people’s choice winner.

Portland-based Lango Hansen Landscape Architects received an honor award in the unbuilt work category for a conceptual design titled “Urban Play: Swing, Dunk, Pump,” created as part of a forum hosted by the Portland Art Museum on improving Portland parks. The design focused on building basketball courts, swing sets and bike courses in underused urban spaces.

The firm also received a merit award in the general design category for the Marriott Residence Inn in Portland’s Pearl District.

Portland-based GreenWorks earned an honor award in the general design category for the Westmoreland Park Nature Play playground in Southeast Portland.

In the same category, Portland-based Mayer/Reed earned a merit award for the Outdoor Adventure exhibit at the Portland Children’s Museum.

Oregon State Parks and Recreation received a general design merit award for creating a signature cattle brand to adorn fences, posts and other parts of Cottonwood Canyon State Park in Eastern Oregon.

Portland-based Walker Macy earned a merit award in the planning and analysis category for the Willamette Falls Legacy Project, a master planning effort for redevelopment of the former Blue Heron Paper Co. site in Oregon City.

In the research and communication category, the Society of Experimental Graphic Design won a merit award for the Revolution in the Landscape. The Design Week Portland event involved temporary installations along the Portland Open Space Sequence.

Also, four University of Oregon student projects received recognition in this year’s ASLA Oregon Design Awards.

The jury included Charles Anderson, a principal with Los Angeles-based landscape architecture and urban design firm �ѱ��é�Ի�����; Ben Kaiser, owner and principal of Portland-based Kaiser Group Inc.; Kimberlee Stryker, a member of the landscape architecture faculty at the University of California, Berkeley; and Nicolas Rader, head of the San Francisco office of architecture and landscape architecture firm Snohetta.

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