1.
What is the Congress Square Redesign?
The Congress Square Redesign is a large-scale, long overdue, renovation in the heart of Portland’s Arts District that will transform a car-dominated and inaccessible area into a world-class urban space.
After an extensive community-driven process, there are three components of the Congress Square Redesign:
Phase A: The redesign of the intersection of Congress Street, High Street, and Free Street;
Phase B: The redesign of the public space including PMA plaza, the H.H. Hay Building plaza, and Congress Square Park; and
Phase C: The installation of a custom public art sculpture by renowned artist Sarah Sze.
Hundreds of people participated in the process to bring us to this point. Beginning with a City-sponsored public visioning exercise followed by a series of public forums held during critical decision points in the design process, the City of Portland, Friends of Congress Square Park, and the Portland Public Art Committee convened residents, neighborhood associations, nonprofits, and businesses to help develop a vision for Congress Square and to select the landscape design firm WRT and artist Sarah Sze.
The project partners and other community stakeholders worked closely with WRT and Sarah Sze to develop designs that successfully fulfill the community’s needs and aspirations for the Square.
With the redesign, the updated traffic flow and crosswalk width and placement will ease congestion and significantly improve safety for all modes of transportation. The improved performance area will facilitate educational, cultural, and community programming. Inviting pathways, seat walls, shade trees, plantings, lighting, a natural playscape, and a splash pad will provide a welcome year-round urban respite.
The improvements will enhance opportunities for social connections and foster a sense of neighborhood pride and belonging. The end result will be a community gathering place that is welcoming and inspiring for generations to come.
2.
How was the public involved in the redesign process?
The Congress Square Redesign is an unprecedented public-private partnership. Hundreds of people participated in the process to bring us to this point. Beginning with a City-sponsored public visioning exercise followed by a series of public forums held during critical decision points in the design process, the City of Portland, Friends of Congress Square Park, and the Portland Public Art Committee convened residents, neighborhood associations, nonprofits, and businesses to help develop a vision for Congress Square and to select the landscape design firm WRT and artist Sarah Sze.
The project partners and other community stakeholders worked closely with WRT and Sarah Sze to develop designs that successfully fulfill the community’s needs and aspirations for the Square.
Public meetings included:
May 4, 2016: Interview & Public Presentation
October 16 - 18, 2016: Community Engagement Meeting #1
"Walkshop" Site visit
Stakeholder Charrettes
Public Presentations
December 15, 2016: Community Engagement Meeting #2
March 13, 2017: Community Engagement Meeting #3
September 2018: Design Development Completed
3.
Why is the redesign important?
With the redesign, the updated traffic flow and crosswalk width and placement will ease congestion and significantly improve safety for all modes of transportation. The improved performance area will facilitate educational, cultural, and community programming. Inviting pathways, seat walls, shade trees, plantings, lighting, a natural playscape, and a splash pad will provide a welcome year-round urban respite.
At no time in recent memory has access to open space been more important than it is right now. The square is a sanctuary, a lifeline, for people who live in the area -- many without back yards, porches, or cars to get out of the city. It allows people to escape the confines of their homes, to breathe fresh air, and to enjoy the trees and flowers. For many of Portland’s unhoused residents, the park provides a comfortable place to rest. For all of us, it offers a place to meet our neighbors and friends safely in an outside space.
4.
Will programming and events still be offered to the public in Congress Square Park?
Yes. Research shows that a significant indicator of likely success and increased use is whether or not there are already people who are committed to the ongoing upkeep and programming in the space. Friends of Congress Square Park (FoCSP), is the non-profit place manager of Congress Square Park, which sits on one side of the larger Square. FoCSP provides colorful amenities such as tables & chairs and free wifi, and organizes over 150 free public events a year, from concerts and printmaking festivals to puppet shows and ballet performances. FoCSP will continue to serve in this role after the redesign.
Through the efforts of dozens of volunteers cultivated and organized by FoCSP in support of their placemaking efforts, the Square has seen a renaissance in the past five years. However, the community made clear that they have much higher aspirations for the Square; aspirations that can only be attained through this critical next step of redesigning the physical space. Now is the time to make an ambitious, creative, and aspirational investment that will transform the heart of Portland’s Arts District.
5.
Who is on the design team? How were they selected?
Hundreds of people participated in the process to bring us to this point. Beginning with a City-sponsored public visioning exercise followed by a series of public forums held during critical decision points in the design process, the City of Portland, Friends of Congress Square Park, and the Portland Public Art Committee convened residents, neighborhood associations, nonprofits, and businesses to help develop a vision for Congress Square and to select the landscape design firm WRT, horticulturist Patrick Cullina, and civil engineer for the intersection Sebago Technics.
LANDSCAPE DESIGN FIRM | WRT
Wallace Roberts & Todd (WRT) is a national practice that offers services in planning, urban design, architecture, and landscape architecture. Since its inception, the practice has been dedicated to improving the quality of the natural and built environments by applying principles of sustainability to the planning and design of buildings, landscapes, cities, and regions. These principles are intended to protect natural resources, promote social justice and economic well-being, and create livable human habitats that reflect local heritage, culture, and values. Based in Philadelphia, WRT has locations across the United States. All of the firm’s work strives to meet high standards of design excellence, to express the cultural identity of the place. In its 50 years of practice, WRT has been the recipient of more than 300 planning and design awards.
HORTICULTURALIST | Patrick Cullina
Patrick Cullina is an award-winning horticulturist, landscape designer, photographer, lecturer, and organizational consultant with more than twenty years of experience in the landscape field. He runs a design and consulting business based in Manhattan that is dedicated to the innovative and sensitive integration of plants and materials into a diverse range of compelling designs--drawing inspiration from both the natural world and constructed environments alike.
Previously, he was the founding Vice President of Horticulture and Park Operations for New York City's High Line; the Vice President of Horticulture, Operations and Science Research at Brooklyn Botanic Garden; and the Associate Director of The Rutgers University Gardens in affiliation with the school's Department of Landscape Architecture. His work in horticulture has been recognized by organizations like the American Society of Landscape Architects, the Garden Club of America (Zone Horticultural Commendation, 2010), and the Garden Club of New Jersey (Gold Medal, 2005).
CIVIL ENGINEER (INTERSECTION) | Sebago Technics
Founded in 1981, Sebago Technics, Inc. is a multi-discipline, engineering, and land development consulting firm headquartered in South Portland, Maine. Sebago embraces a holistic approach to transportation planning, engineering, and operations in urban settings. Its transportation engineers routinely collaborate with land-use planners and landscape architects to develop designs that achieve superior results in terms of mobility, safety, aesthetics, and environmental quality.
6.
Who is Sarah Sze? How was she selected?
In 2012, the PPAC made the decision to commit $250,000 for the commission of a signature public artwork for Congress Square. A 10-member artist selection committee comprised of leaders in Portland’s arts community worked for over a year to identify four artist finalists. Over one hundred local residents participated in a public ‘interview’ of the finalists. Ultimately, renowned contemporary artist Sarah Sze was selected to design, fabricate, and install a site-specific sculpture in the Redesigned Congress Square.
Sarah Sze is an internationally recognized contemporary artist. Her work is complex referring to architectural, environmental, and natural forms. Sze constructs her work by hand, building intricate and often gravity-defying towers that fill entire exhibition spaces. She is included in most of the major museums in the country and has exhibited worldwide. Today, Sze’s works are held in the collections of The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, among others. Sze is the recipient of the 2003 MacArthur Fellowship and represented the United States at the 2013 Venice Biennale with her work Triple Point. In 2017, her mural Blueprint for a Landscape was completed for the 96th Street 2nd avenue subway platform in New York. She is a professor at Columbia University. She currently lives with her husband the famed surgeon and writer Siddhartha Mukherjee in New York, NY.