hot new next
architecture
The forthcoming Willamette Falls Riverwalk in Oregon City, Oregon, will restore public access to and views of the falls. Designed by international architecture firm Snøhetta and slated to begin construction in 2018, the Riverwalk will feature walkways, overlooks, educational displays, and gathering spaces to attract and engage visitors.
HISTORY IN THE (RE)MAKING Written by ROSEMARIE BUCHANAN
dition journals in 1806. Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, the cataract (in Oregon City, just south of Portland) was a vital power source for the Territory of Oregon and, later, the state’s growing lumber, farming, and industrial economies. With the boom came construction, and soon a row of paper and textile mills entirely walled off public access to the falls. Today the mills are gone, but Willamette Falls is still proving attractive. In 2014, the Willamette Falls Legacy Project launched a $60 million effort, in partnership with the site’s owner, which will restore public access to the falls for the first time in more than 150 years. Central to the plan is the Willamette Falls Riverwalk, an architectural intervention that will let visitors experience the falls and their namesake river up close. Conceived by international architecture firm Snøhetta in collaboration with Portland design studio Mayer/Reed and Canadian firm DIALOG, the Riverwalk, now in the concept design phase, will integrate parts of the site’s abandoned industrial buildings, such as the foundation of a woolen mill built in 1864. “We’re seeking to peel back the layers to reveal the geology, industry, economic history, and beauty” of the falls, notes Michelle Delk, lead designer and director of landscape architecture at Snøhetta. “Rather than taking an additive approach, we aim to carefully reveal the majesty of this site.” h
60
graymag . com
RENDERINGS COURTESY SNØHETTA
WILLAMETTE FALLS AND ITS BOUNTY WERE NOTED BY MERIWETHER LEWIS AND WILLIAM CLARK in their expe-