This month, the Clackamas County Board of County Commissioners accepted the work of the SERA-led Park Avenue Community Project and approved the effort to move forward into a code amendment process. This is a major success for a community that over the last decade has undergone multiple previous plan efforts never to be approved. Community […]
My own involvement in Eugene’s waterfront redevelopment began down in the weeds over the summer in 2018. I first viewed the roughly dozen-acre plot that summer while biking around the city. When I stumbled upon the Eugene Water and Electric Board (EWEB) site by happenstance, I found just that – a rumple of cracked asphalt […]
We’re envisioning downtown Beaverton’s revival and putting pedestrians first. Today, when you ask the average Beaverton resident “Where is downtown?” you’ll sometimes get a puzzled look and a return question: “Beaverton has a downtown?” But this is changing fast, and yesterday’s city approval of a new Urban Design Framework Plan, developed by a team led […]
This summer in Portland, we’re excited to offer two internships to current architecture and urban design and planning students! Bring your unique perspective to real projects at every phase of the design process and collaborate with our design professionals in a vibrant studio culture. Apply now! Why intern at SERA this summer? Enriching experiences! SERA’s […]
Yesterday, joined by the mayor, neighbors, and our partners at HDR, we broke ground on an exciting new chapter for the City of McMinnville’s Alpine Avenue. Alpine Avenue is the city’s first large project in the McMinnville Urban Renewal District. Once complete, the $4.3 million, quarter-mile streetscape project will enhance pedestrian accessibility and comfort along […]
Reshaping suburbia suggests a shift toward mixed use, green buildings, complete streets, densification and transit oriented development… in other words, greener, more efficient forms of suburban “hardware.” While these strategies may lead towards greater efficiency, transformative change will require deeper intervention beyond re-forming and efficiency. Suburban areas must be re-imagined as whole communities animated by […]
Occasionally, a group of emerging designers here at SERA will pool their talents and take on an independent design challenge. Such was the case when Krystan Menne, Kristin Slavin, and Jodi Hanson heard about the “[Imagine Downtown] Lafayette, LA” open-ideas competition a few months ago. Not only did this interdisciplinary team of designers dive into this […]
We have recently referenced some of the exciting augmented reality work we’ve been working on, but did you know that we’ve been using various technologies to engage the public during planning projects since the early 2000s? One of our goals at SERA has been to always communicate planning problems and potential solutions in ways that […]
The traditional design process is being rethought with the introduction of new technologies. But what’s exciting to see is the way digital advances in other industries are influencing the way we think in the architectural world. Did you know that the wildly popular video game of the 1990s, Quake, has had a profound impact on […]
“Gray day. Everything is gray. I watch. But nothing moves today.” – Dr. Seuss It all started when I needed a place to eat my lunch. As a strong believer in the lunch break, I noticed that I had been skipping my noontime intermission. Our resilient foodcart owners are still peddling tom kha soup, but where […]