The Riverwalk will allow people access to Willamette Falls, the second-largest waterfall
in the U.S. by volume, for the first time in 100 years
(Oregon City, Ore.)—Oregon Governor Kate Brown announced the selection of the
design team for the Riverwalk portion of the Willamette Falls Legacy Project today,
ushering in the next step in the redevelopment of a significant landmark site near the
country’s second largest waterfall. The team of Mayer/Reed, Snøhetta and DIALOG were
chosen after an extensive national proposal process conducted this spring, and will
begin work this summer on the schematic design of the Riverwalk. When completed,
the project will open public access to Willamette Falls to the public for the first time in
over 100 years.
Local and regional elected officials and community supporters praised the selection of
the team on Friday.
“This is the first step in rediscovering one of Oregon’s most beautiful and significant
places,” said Carlotta Colette, Metro Councilor. “We are going to allow people to see
Willamette Falls in a way they haven’t been able to experience it for more than a
centuryand create housing, jobs, and public spaces at the same time.”
“I am excited that we have chosen an extraordinary team to help create a world-class
Riverwalk to Willamette Falls,” said Oregon City Mayor Dan Holladay. “Providing public
access to the Falls will not only allow the public to return to an amazing section of the
Willamette River in Oregon City, but will also drive economic investment into the Blue
Heron property and surrounding area. “
“Clackamas County is a proud partner and a firm believer in this project’s future
potential for our county and for our region,” said Clackamas County Commissioner
Tootie Smith. “Through this collaborative partnership, great progress has been made
toward transforming this site and capitalizing on its historic, cultural and economic
significance.”
The selection process invited design teams to demonstrate their approach to give the
public access to the breathtaking Willamette Falls and the adjacent industrial
site. Mayer/Reed, Snøhetta, and DIALOG envisioned an experientially-rich Riverwalk
that not only accesses and amplifies the magnetic power of the Willamette, but also
courses through time, stitching together the natural and cultural histories embedded
within the Blue Heron site.
“We believe that the site and the history it holds is a sublime, one-of-a-kind landscape
that should not be upstaged by the hand of any designer,” commented Michelle Delk,
Snøhetta’s Director of Landscape Architecture. “We are inspired by the complex strata
of the site and its deep cultural history. By protecting, reusing, reducing, and adding, we
will integrate and amplify the site’s strata into the Riverwalk,”
Located at the end of Main Street in Oregon City, the current Willamette Falls Legacy
Project site is a cluster of empty industrial buildings, the remnants of the Blue Heron
Paper Mill, which was shuttered in a bankruptcy in 2011. The Willamette Falls Legacy
Project is a collaboration of four public sector partners (Metro, the Portland-area
regional government, the City of Oregon City, Clackamas County and the state of
Oregon) and the Blue Heron site’s landowner, Falls Legacy LLC. The project aims to
create a Riverwalk that connects people to the falls as well as a Willamette Falls
Downtown District with spaces for housing, employers and recreation.
“The upland portions of the site will thrive when their connectivity to the water’s edge,
their form, massing and sight lines, and indeed the very fabric of uses eventually
embedded in the site, are carefully considered together,” notes Alan Boniface, DIALOG
Principal.
Long an important gathering spot and fishing location for Native American tribes,
Willamette Falls was also a final destination for many a westward-heading pioneer due
to its location at the end of the Oregon Trail. It was also site of the country’s first longdistance
transmission of electricity in 1889, when electricity generated by the falls was
sent several miles away to Portland. Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, it was the
site of various thriving industries, including lumber, flour, woolen, and paper mills, and a
brick-making operation.
“The magnetism of Willamette Falls is the genesis and spirit of place. We will provide an
experiential glimpse of the fall’s power, one that transports visitors deep into history
and highlights its elemental qualities” says Carol Mayer-Reed, Principal of Mayer/Reed.
The design team’s approach showed the falls and the complex material layers of the site
as a portal to the Northwest’s collective history. The site’s strata tells the story of deep
geology, dynamic hydrology, and vibrant ecology, together forming the spirit of place. It
tells the story of Native Americans who first understood the site’s promise, fishing its
waters and building deep tradition, as well as that of European immigrants who claimed
Oregon City, carving out a grid and building settlements. It tells the story of workers and
industrialists who ground flour, drove timber, spun wool, milled paper, and generated
electricity. It will tell the story of you – the public - who will help lay down the next
historic layer - an experiential riverwalk, foretelling a story of renewed economy,
environmental sensitivity, and historic importance.
The idea boards and images generated by the design team demonstrate their thinking
and approach to the site. The final design for the new Riverwalk will be the result of an
extensive public engagement process.
Snøhetta and Mayer/Reed are also currently working on Portland’s James Beard Public
Market. DIALOG brings international experience designing revitalized post-industrial
waterfronts and will provide urban design expertise on the project. DIALOG and Snøhetta
are also working together on the Calgary Central Library in Alberta, Canada, currently
under construction.
For more information on the Willamette Falls Legacy Project, visit
www.rediscoverthefalls.org