In Memoriam: Kevin Robert Perry, FASLA

With heavy hearts, we share news that our colleague, Kevin Robert Perry, FASLA, passed away on April 2nd, 2023. Kevin was diagnosed with ALS in October 2022 and his illness progressed quickly. 

Kevin was a past member of the Oregon Chapter and many in our community worked with Kevin during his time at the Portland Bureau of Environmental Services or later in private practice. More recently, Kevin was a longtime lecturer at the University of California Davis and the founder of Urban Rain Studio.

Kevin’s passion for green infrastructure and his innovative green street designs were the hallmarks of his career. In 2017, Kevin was elevated to Fellow in the ASLA, with a nomination from the California Sierra Chapter that stated, “He’s made people see their streets differently.”

Our deepest condolences go out to his wife, Andrea Carlassare, his family, and loved ones. 

A GoFundMe has been established to ease the financial burdens on Kevin’s family for those that wish to contribute. https://www.gofundme.com/f/kevin-robert-perry

European Product Design Award

The European Product Design Award (ePDA)—a cutting-edge global event dedicated to elevating and promoting the art of Product Design—is waiting for you in 2023 too.

 

The European Product Design Award honours and acknowledges the skills of international product and industrial designers who work to make our daily lives better through their useful and well-considered inventions. By presenting outstanding designers to a global audience, ePDA fosters the expansion of product design on a global scale.

Submit your artwork to one of our numerous categories before May 1, 2023, and get 10% off with Early Bird Deadline! 

Portland Parks Foundation Funding Opportunities

Spring is here! Time for two exciting funding opportunities! 

Joey Pope Award for Parks Leadership

Do you know an amazing new leader in the world of Portland parks, gardens, natural areas? 

PPF is inviting nominations for emerging leaders, connectors, and innovators who are bringing creative new approaches to advancing accessibility and innovation in Portland’s parks system.  

Got someone in mind? (Psst: you can nominate yourself!) This is a unique opportunity for an emerging individual, organization or initiative to receive $10,000 to advance their efforts, plus technical assistance in partnership with PPF.  All nominees will be celebrated at our Spring Summit on May 18!
 

Submit your nomination by April 9th.

Nominate Today

This is only the second year that PPF has offered this special new opportunity, named after founding PPF Board Chair, Josephine (Joey) Pope, whose decades of advocacy and activism made our parks system more accessible and beautiful for all. We know that many Portlanders are carrying this torch, and it's time to uplift their efforts.

Learn more about last year's awardee, Pamela Slaughter, founder of People of Color Outdoors, and all of the amazing 2022 nominees.

*Photo: Josephine (Joey) Pope has devoted over four decades of her life to activism, philanthropy, and leadership in making Portland’s parks system more accessible to all.

Spring Small Grants

We are excited to extend another invitation to community groups to apply to our Small Grants Program. These $2,000 grants support community-based organizations within the city of Portland who foster equitable access to our urban parks, natural areas, community gardens and recreation centers. This program is supported by a fund from the estate of Nancy Hebb Freeman + the Portland Parks & Recreation's Community Partnership Program. 

Applications are due April 15th. Click here to learn more.

Apply Today

For questions related to either program or grant-writing assistance, contact Jessica Green: jgreen@portlandpf.org or 503-446-3790

OSLAB Administrative Rules Committee Volunteers

Help shape state requirements for landscape architects!

OSLAB is seeking Registered Landscape Architects to join its Administrative Rules

Committee (ARC). The ARC is a long-standing committee that includes Board members and

Board registrants. The ARC assists with review of existing rules and development of ideas for

rule changes. OSLAB uses the ARC to help review rulemaking proposals for clarity as well as

for input on opportunities to simplify, modernize, or eliminate rules. Rules might sound like a dull

topic, but rules are of great importance as this is where key decisions about regulation of the

profession are established. Once rules are adopted, OSLAB and its registrants must follow

these rules.

The next assignments for the ARC will be helping the Board evaluate standards for

registration (including education and work experience requirements) and continuing

education requirements. There is not a set term for ARC membership, but OSLAB hopes to

find individuals who can volunteer for 18 to 24 months, allowing time for the upcoming efforts to

be completed. The anticipated workload is attendance at several virtual meetings per year, with

limited review of materials in between meetings.

Volunteers who can bring diverse voices and experiences to the conversation and

represent practitioners in varying career stages are a key part of this effort. Emerging

professional? Mid-career? Seasoned practitioner? OSLAB wants to hear from you. Contact the

Oregon State Landscape Architect Board (OSLAB) at oslab.info@bgelab.oregon.gov or 503-

589-0093.

Continuing education credit available! A Registered Landscape Architect is eligible for up to

4 hours of health, safety, and welfare credit after completion of 1 year of service as an

appointed committee member. Credit is then available for ongoing service.

UO Studio Reviews - Volunteers Needed

Dear Landscape Architect Friends and Colleagues,

The University of Oregon's landscape architecture department is once again scheduling final reviews and your professional knowledge is valuable. If you have time the week of 11/28 for either a half session of two hours or a full session of four, please reach out to aricad@uoregon.edu to get paired up with a studio instructor. Most reviews are in the afternoon Tues through Friday - 2:00-6:00, with one additional review Friday morning 8:30-12:30.

Thank you!

Climate Action Committee

ASLA Oregon is establishing a committee to focus on Climate Action for our local chapter. In 2022 we partnered with the Washington and Alaska Chapters for a webinar ‘Restitching Communities with Landscapes: Climate Justice Strategies in the Pacific Northwest’. We are building on this work and provide a platform for our local landscape architecture community to learn and lead on climate with a specific focus on Oregon-specific issues.

We are looking for practitioners, educators, and students from across Oregon to join this group. The committee will reflect the key issues and opportunities and set the agenda for on-going activities around climate action including educational events and resources.

We will also select from the group a Climate Action Committee Chair, which will be a new member of ExCom that will regularly report on the group to the larger leadership of the chapter.

We will be connecting these state-wide activities to other regional collaborations in the North Pacific Region, and the larger ASLA National Climate Action Committee, and the soon to be released Climate Action Plan which will be unveiled at the Annual meeting in San Francisco on November 12 th . The overall goals of the committee are to:

 Inspire action toward the adoption of climate positive design

 Coordinate with ASLA national and regional chairs on climate action

 Connection point for regional networking around climate issues

 Provide education and outreach about landscape architecture and the climate

crisis

Please contact Jason King presidentelect@aslaoregon.org if you are interested in joining the committee, and we will convene regular committee meetings starting in December 2022.

Series of panels on the Future of PSU as an Urban University

The year 2022 marked the 50th anniversary of the City of Portland's 1972 Downtown Plan, one of the most consequential plans in the city's history. It put in place a vision for a public, pedestrian-scaled, multipurpose, and vital downtown. Through the requirements adopted in the Downtown Plan and subsequent public and private investments stemming from it, Portland's core area became an international icon for central city recovery. That plan also formally identified Portland State University as the city's "urban university."

In February of this year, PhD candidate, Kimberly Nightingale, and Professor Emeritus, Ethan Seltzer, wrote a paper entitled Portland, Portland State, and the Urban University Idea that examines the history of the urban university idea in the U.S. and presents a working definition of what an urban university is today. It then examines the way that being an urban university has been baked into Portland State's identity from its very beginning, and concludes with some thoughts about where we might go from here.

The following panel discussions pick up where the paper leaves off. These hybrid events are free and open to the public, with a limited number of in-person seats available for each discussion. Events will take place in the Dirce Moroni Toulan Library of Urban and Public Affairs on the 7th floor of the PSU Urban Center. Feel free to contact the CUPA Dean's Office if you have any questions and visit the website here: https://www.pdx.edu/urban-public-affairs/panel-discussions

Call for Volunteers - Rivers to Ridges Parks and Open Space Vision

20-Year Vision “Refresh” Process Underway – A Call for Volunteers

The Rivers to Ridges Partnership is a voluntary association of 19 organizations working collaboratively to advance the protection, restoration, and management of open space resources in the southern Willamette Valley. The name Rivers to Ridges emanates from a regional open space vision which was endorsed by numerous stakeholder groups and unanimously by local elected officials from the Eugene-Springfield area in 2003.

Through the combined efforts of our partners, a significant amount of what was envisioned in the 2003 Rivers to Ridges vision has been implemented! This includes the conservation of nearly 9,000 acres of land, construction of 57 miles of trails and paths, and restoration and enhancement of 8,800 acres of habitat. 

To build on this success and look toward what might be possible over the next 20 years, the Rivers to Ridges Partnership has now engaged in a vision “Refresh” process and plan to have an updated vision developed by early 2023. For more about Rivers to Ridges, go to www.rivers2ridges.org

Charrette Facilitators Wanted

The Rivers to Ridges partnership will be conducting a half-day work-session in Eugene on December 9 using a design charrette process. In order for Partnership staff to be able to participate, we are seeking 2-3 volunteers to facilitate small groups. If you may be interested in volunteering at this important event, please contact Jeff Krueger at jkenvironments@gmail.com for more information.

Photo by Paul Gordon

Wildfire Adapted Communities Recommendations Report

The DLCD has released the Wildfire Adapted Communities Recommendations Report for public review. Written comments will be accepted through September 16, 2022 at 11:59 p.m. DLCD encourages written comments on the recommendations which may be submitted using the online comment form.

 

The Department of Land Conservation and Development’s (DLCD) charge under Senate Bill 762 (2021) is to recommend potential changes to the statewide land use planning program. Legislators asked DLCD to develop recommendations regarding comprehensive plan sand zoning codes that minimize wildfire risk and create more wildfire adapted communities.

 

In addition to accepting written comments, DLCD is hosting two Community Listening Sessions. All are welcome to attend.

 

September 8, 2022 | 8:30 a.m. - 10:00 a.m. Register

September 8, 2022 | 5:30 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. Register

The Land Conservation and Development Commission will receive a staff presentation and offer guidance on a final version of the recommendations report at their September 22-23, 2022 meeting. While public comment will be received at this meeting, the Legislature is asking for department recommendations. This is not a formal action by the commission. 

DLCD encourages community members and other interested parties to review the summary level document outlining DLCD's recommendations, or to review the document in full.

If you are interested in reviewing previous meeting materials, meeting summaries and recordings, and other resources, they are available on DLCD’s Wildfire Adapted Communities webpage.

A note regarding related agency work:

Several other agencies are responsible for implementing work related to SB 762. View a summary of each organization's role related to the Wildland Urban Interface and risk map here. For more information, or to provide comment on other important aspects of Oregon's wildfire adaptation program, see these websites or contact DLCD staff for more information:

2022 AIA/ASLA Eugene People's Choice Awards

Dates have now been released for this annual popular vote event! ASLA Oregon encourages our Willamette Valley members to enter projects and increase public exposure to good design.

Each year, the American Institute of Architects, Southwestern Oregon Chapter (AIA-SWO) in collaboration with the Willamette Valley Section of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) sponsored the People’s Choice Awards for Architecture.

These awards aim to educate and inspire our fellow citizens by showcasing architecture, interiors and landscape architecture projects created within the AIA Eugene Section area by AIA or ASLA members. The program is intended to demonstrate to the public the role of the architectural profession in enhancing the built environment. 

2020 saw the inclusion of AIA’s Framework for Design Excellence: Within the word limit identified above, for built projects, entrants are asked to describe how their project address the categories “Design for Integration” and “Design for Discovery”, and two other categories as determined by the selecting firm. For unbuilt projects, they needed to address “Design for Integration” and three other categories.

Important Dates

  • Aug 1 - Sep 16 Submittal Period (Early Bird Pricing through Aug 26)

  • Oct 3-17 Voting Period

  • TBD Announcement of Winners/Award Event

See More on the AIA Website

Changing the Narrative Webinar

CHANGING THE NARRATIVE:
ENGAGING AND EMPOWERING THE NEXT GENERATION

Last month, Rudy Bruner Award for Urban Excellence (RBA) partnered with American Institute of Architects Housing and Community Development Knowledge Community to host Changing the Narrative: Engaging and Empowering the Next Generation. The Albert and Tina Small Center for Collaborative Design’s Ann Yoachim discussed the role of engagement, collaboration, and partnerships in creating Parisite Skatepark (2019 Silver Medalist) in New Orleans. Watch the webinar to learn more about the value of community-engaged design for communities, students and practitioners.

About the Rudy Bruner Award
The Rudy Bruner Award for Urban Excellence is a national design award that recognizes transformative urban places that contribute to the economic, environmental, and social vitality of American cities. A program of the Bruner Foundation (based in Cambridge, MA), the RBA offers more than three decades of research, evaluation and writing on architecture, urban design and development including 88 in-depth case studies about award-winning projects that offer insight into the evolution of cities and development practices over time.

Green Infrastructure Leadership Exchange Survey

The Green Infrastructure Leadership Exchange is a highly connected peer learning network of Green Infrastructure practitioners working together to find more sustainable water infrastructure solutions.  The team has been awarded a grant to research the functions plants provide in bioretention and develop a tool for plant selection.  As the first phase of this project, they are gathering information from green infrastructure designers and professionals in order to guide a literature review into the functions plants provide in green infrastructure.

 

Below is a link to a survey asking your thoughts about plants in bioretention stormwater facilities.  If you are involved in the design, review, planting, management, or maintenance of bioretention installations, on private property or in the public right-of-way, we would like to hear from you.  Feel free to forward this link to others in your organization doing this work.  The survey should take 20-25 min., and results are anonymous and not tracked.  Please complete the survey by June 3rd 2022.

 

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/98JV9MQ

 

On behalf of the project team, thank you for your interest and participation!

City of Portland Olmsted200 Proclamation

The Olmsted200 proclamation declares April 26, 2022 as Frederick Law Olmsted Day in the City of Portland. The proclamation was prepared by Jim Sjulin, Laurence Cotton and Mike Houck was submitted to Portland City Council at a Council session. Will Howell shepherded it to Council and who did a rousing reading at the April 26 Lucky Lab Olmsted Ale toast to FLO and JCO.

City Commissioners and Mayor Wheeler were enthusiastically supportive of the Proclamation in their comments prior to Mayor Wheeler's reading.  Commissioner Mapps provided a detailed and lengthy historical summation of both FLO's and JCO's contributions to the national and local park movement, in addition to FLO's anti-slavery, abolitionist history.  

Halprin's Open Space Sequence awarded National ASLA Landmark Award

The Open Space Sequence – Lovejoy Fountain, Pettygrove Park, Keller Fountain, and the Source Fountain – has been awarded the Landmark Award by the National ASLA for its unique, lasting contributions to design and urban life.

 The Landmark Award from the American Society of Landscape Architects celebrates the country’s most distinguished landscape architecture works. The Open Space Sequence is heralded as one of the great masterpieces of urban design, one that continues to be a dynamic, people-focused space for Portlanders to enjoy and have fun.  

Learn more about the Open Space Sequence, Portland’s Fountain District and how you can be part of this dynamic, walkable, mixed-use neighborhood for working, living and playing.

 

Shadow Mentor Day!

The University of Oregon ASLA Student Chapter is pleased to announce the twenty-ninth annual Shadow Mentor Day on Friday, February 18th.

This year’s Shadow Mentor Day will be a hybrid setting on Zoom and in Eugene. For one day, students are offered the experience to shadow a professional, choosing from the many opportunities the landscape architecture field offers. A learning experience for students and practicing landscape architects alike, this event has always been a great success made possible by the support of professionals.

Sign up for the 29th Annual Shadow Mentor Day!

This year’s event is a little different due to Covid-19 – we are splitting the day into two parts. The morning session will be a series of zoom breakout sessions with students and professionals, followed by the afternoon session which will involve in-person tours led by professionals at sites around Eugene.

Please let us know if you are interested in participating in either part of the day by filling out the survey link below by Friday, January 28th. Feel welcome to include information such as areas of concentration and values in the survey. This will be helpful when students request mentors and will be useful to pair students and professionals with similar interests. You may also include any special requests in your response.

We hope you will participate in this important event. If you are unable to join us this year, or know of another practitioner who would like to participate, we encourage you to forward this email and survey link.

To participate, please click here: ShadowMentorDaySignUp

Thank you for your interest – your generosity facilitates the invaluable experience of learning in the field from active professionals. The UO Student Chapter will confirm your participation soon after registering, and will follow up with information in early February with day-of details.

Announcing the opening of submissions to the 2022 AZ Awards!

The AZ AWARDS is AZURE’s international design competition recognizing the world’s best projects, products and ideas. The AZ Awards is acknowledged for its influence and significance within the global design and architecture sphere and is a unique opportunity for architects and designers to receive the international exposure and acknowledgment that their exceptional work deserves. Entries are juried by a panel of internationally renowned practitioners in the areas of product design, architecture, landscape architecture and interiors.

The 12th edition of AZURE Magazine’s international architecture and design competition, the AZ Awards, is now open for submissions!

Winners will be revealed on June 24, 2022. All winners and shortlisted projects are published in the AZ Awards Annual – AZURE’s July/August issue – and featured on AZURE’s and AZ Awards media partners’ digital and social channels.

You can find out more about the AZ Awards and our past jurors, winners and finalists here.

The AZ Awards is open to:

  • Architects

  • Interior Designers

  • Landscape Architects

  • Urban Designers

  • Developers

  • Product Designers

  • Industrial Designers

  • Experiential Graphic Designers

  • Product Manufacturers

  • Students in design-related disciplines

Early Bird Deadline: January 31, 2022

Final Submission Deadline: February 25, 2022

Service Opportunity! Join the Portland Urban Forestry Commission

Portland’s Urban Forestry Commission (UFC) is seeking new members. They have three openings beginning in March 2022. The UFC is comprised of 11 volunteers who demonstrate an interest in the preservation and expansion of Portland’s urban forest. Commissioners attend the monthly UFC meeting on the third Thursday morning of each month and serve on at least one UFC committee.

The Commission primarily advises the City Forester, the Parks Director, and City Council in the development of policies, plans, regulations, and budgets pertaining to trees in the city. The work ranges from specific site issues, park masterplan review, tree fund usage, and policy development and review. Landscape architects bring a valuable viewpoint, and that service brings visibility to the profession.

Interested in learning more? Please contact UFC member Gregg Everhart, ASLA at 503-235-1815. Applications are due November 30, 2021.