Urban Oases
Open Spaces Provide Respite in Increasingly Crowded Cities

Urban designers are creating more than a square patch of grass to satisfy those who work and live in the cities of the Northwest.

by Sheila Bacon

On a busy summer day, Jamison Square in Portland's Pearl District draws people of all ages from all parts of the city. Photo courtesy of Hoyt Street Properties

When Hoyt Street Properties struck a deal with the city of Portland to include parks amidst the development company's Pearl District apartment and condominium projects, no one expected what that first venture would become.

The 40,000-sq.-ft. Jamison Square park comes to life about 10 a.m. on a summer morning, said Tiffany Sweitzer, Hoyt Street Properties' president, whose office at NW 11th and Johnson streets sits just across the street from the park.

Minivans begin to arrive, bringing swimsuited children to splash in the park's ankle-deep water feature. Grandparents in the nearby condominiums cross the street to the gathering spot with grandchildren in tow. And young families, a growing entity in the Pearl District, find that dipping their toes in the cascading water feature is a wonderful way to cool off.

"We never anticipated when we first thought this out that it would become such an active space, but in the summer, there are literally 100 kids here," Sweitzer said. "You can't help but smile."

Jamison Square is one of many spaces that developers and city leaders are focusing on these days as places to relax and unwind. As urban developments in cities like Portland and Seattle are becoming more dense, places where people can escape the rush of city life become more precious.

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Hoyt Street Properties works closely with the city to ensure that there is plenty of open space as the company continues to develop Pearl Street land into living and retail spaces. Jamison Square has been used not only by its neighbors but by those who visit via bicycle, foot or streetcar.

It's also proof that the Pearl District's condos aren't just for empty nesters and young professionals.

"With amenities like parks in an urban setting, people are more likely to say, 'Yeah, I can raise kids here,'" Sweitzer added.

On the heels of Jamison Square's popularity, Hoyt Street Properties is planning two more neighborhood parks. North Park Square (the park hasn't yet been formally named), just two blocks north, will have more grass than Jamison Square and also a pedestrian bridge over a water feature and an art installation made of railroad ties and glass.

Hoyt Street is donating half of the land to the city, and the city is purchasing the rest.

Mayer/Reed's floating walkway along the Eastbank Esplanade is part of a 3-mi. path along the east bank of the Willamette River. Walkers and cyclists find the stroll a pleasant respite from the bustle of nearby urban life. Photo by C. Bruce Forster for Mayer/Reed

The third park - a 90,000-sq.-ft. space yet two more blocks north - will be a more active park, with plenty of space for Frisbee throwing and impromptu soccer games, Sweitzer said. Whether Hoyt Street or the city develops this space - dubbed "Neighborhood Park" for now - has not yet been decided.

Construction is expected to start in two years, or when residential development in the area becomes dense enough to warrant it.

Other Places to Stop, Relax

The Pearl District isn't the only place urban dwellers can break from city living. Walkers, cyclists and nature lovers enjoy the out-of-doors along Portland's Eastbank Esplanade - a 3-mi. bicycle/pedestrian loop through downtown Portland and along the east bank of the Willamette River designed by Portland's Mayer/Reed, a landscape architecture firm.

The pathway along the river - nestled between the top of the riverbank and Interstate 5 - features plazas and overlooks for people to stop and relax. Where the riverbank becomes too narrow, the path continues to a 1,000-ft. long floating walkway on the river.

Mayer/Reed also designed the Rain Garden - a piece of "working" landscape architecture at the new addition to Portland's Oregon Convention Center. The garden is designed to handle the stormwater from the new expansion's 5.5-acre roof, but also function as an attractive urban oasis.

The collection system is shaped into a work of art, with a series of tiered ponds, decorative columnar basalt and native shrubs, plants and grasses.

"It's meant to be seen as a slice of urban stormwater," said Carol Mayer-Reed, a partner at Mayer/Reed. As the collected rooftop rainwater cascades into a source basin on a stormy day, "it helps people fathom what amount of rainfall hits the city," she added.

One of Mayer/Reed's more recent projects gives a different spin to the typical urban oasis. Lakeview Village in the heart of Lake Oswego, Ore., opened in late 2003 as a collection of shops, restaurants and office space on a busy, dense site.

The owner's idea was to create a lot of development at the popular location, said Mayer-Reed, so her firm, along with Portland's Sienna Architecture, was tasked with tucking gathering areas and landscaping features amidst the busy mixed-use center. What resulted was a number of courtyards and plazas between business where merchants can display goods outdoors and visitors can gather for lunch.

"I think the nature of urban places is changing," said Mayer-Reed. "There's a lot of focus on urban spaces that might not be at street level (even on a high-rise's rooftop)," she said. "With more development, spaces are more difficult to find."

'A Gesture to the City'

The open space in Snohomish County's Campus Redevelopment Initiative - the $167 million effort that is adding a new county administration building, jail and additional parking to the county's existing downtown campus - is "a gesture to the city by Snohomish County," said Kerry Hegedus, senior associate with NBBJ of Seattle.

Everett has little urban park space, and the three tiers of open space atop the new underground parking garage is one way to bring nature a little closer to downtown businesses, Hegedus said. NBBJ joined with Seattle's Site Workshop designers to create a space that features a paved area with seating, a grassy area with an amphitheater and a café.

The plaza was conceived during the master-planning phase to create a welcoming entryway to the county campus, Hegedus said.

"The 'front porch' was characterized as a prominent urban space, welcoming constituents and creating a strong urban identity to improve the campus organization, enhancing wayfinding and invite public access," he said. "The plaza also creates an open space that links the campus around a common element."

With its location squarely in the middle of Snohomish County's administrative workings, the space speaks to those associated with the county's court system.

"Lawyers have a lot of downtime between court appearances," Hegedus added. "The café is a place for them and for county employees to meet."

Gathering at Different Levels

A new civic space is also emerging in downtown Seattle, and with it, dramatic urban landscaping that ties together three blocks of city buildings.

The Civic Plaza is the common theme that visually connects the city's Justice Center, City Hall and public safety block at the south end of downtown. Located at one of the steepest parts of the city, the 80-ft. grade change from the east end of the project to the west gave landscape architects from Seattle's Gustafson Guthrie Nichol Ltd. a chance to create gathering spaces at different levels for varied types of uses.

With the master plan already done when the project was awarded, GGN partner Jennifer Guthrie was tasked with creating space within an already defined boundary. It was important to the city that there be ample space for the public to gather, so the landscape design team created large areas for bands and performances as well as more intimate spaces for smaller-scale performances. Also important to the city was accessibility.

"A lot of the urban spaces downtown feel more private than public because they're raised from ground level," Guthrie said. Here, every space is accessible at street level and available to anyone.

Because the landscaping is the only constant feature between the three blocks, water was used to visually connect the buildings. Starting at a source pool at the Justice Center, the water bubbles up when it reaches Fifth Avenue, appearing to cross the street. The stream continues on the other side of Fifth, where it appears in a water feature inside City Hall, bisects the lobby and continues to the plaza below.

A further connection to the public safety block is still in the conceptual stage. Construction on GGN's design will finish by the end of the year.

The natural incline of the underground parking garage at Snohomish County's Campus Redevelopment Initiative gave designers at Seattle's NBBJ and Site Workshop a chance to create three distinct open spaces that serve as the "front porch" to the redesigned county campus. Image courtesy of Snohomish County

Users Help in Design

When Bob Perron of Portland's Perron Collaborative was asked by the City of Hillsboro to come up with a plan for public space within the city's busy new Civic Center development, Perron turned to the experts: the future space's users.

"It's a collaborative process," Perron said. "We ask the users to be co-designers. We become the facilitators."

Perron and his team turned to a focus group of downtown merchants, Saturday Market leaders, city representatives, law enforcement members, the local Hispanic community and others. From numerous public meetings came the idea for a curving amphitheater that can be used for concerts, Christmas tree lighting ceremonies, farmer's markets and concerts.

"You don't just leave it up to the designers," Perron added. "It's the people who make it work."

The design features an open space that relates to the buildings surrounding it. The City Council chambers, a library and several businesses front the plaza, engaging the open space throughout the day.

One of the tenants includes a day-care center, so many of the plaza's features are scaled to appeal to children.