It’s been more than 70 years since Oregon’s largest city, Portland, has had a public market. In response to the city's thriving culinary scene, residents have formed the non-profit organization James Beard Public Market, and Snøhetta designed what will be Portland’s first year-round market since 1942, when the Portland Public Market closed down.
Named after prominent gastronomical figure James Beard, who Dezeen reports “developed an interest in food at an early age after accompanying his mother on shopping trips to Portland markets,” the market will reintroduce the hustle and bustle of commerce and public vibrancy to the western end of Morrison Bridge on the Willamette River.
The bridge, which currently splits the market’s future site in half and blocks pedestrian access from three sides, will be realigned by the architects with access ramps, and a new pedestrian through-road will make the new market accessible from all directions.
Snøhetta’s design will have room for 60 permanent stalls, 30 flexible stands, restaurants, a teaching kitchen, and an events space.
"A generous pedestrian street will run north and south, swelling at the sunniest portion of the site, to create an outdoor room for vendor stalls, seating, and green areas for Pacific Northwest native plantings," the design team added in a statement.
Construction is set to start in 2016. This isn’t the Oslo-based firm’s only project in Oregon—they have been called on to revitalize an abandoned paper mill on the Willamette Falls near Oregon City into a mixed-use public destination, giving the public up-close access to the falls for the first time.
Related Stories
Shopping Centers | Nov 12, 2015
Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones breaks ground on $1 billion mixed-use development
The plan calls for retail space, including a Walmart, along with offices, apartments, and homes.
Retail Centers | Oct 12, 2015
Rotterdam’s ‘ugliest building’ turned into sleek McDonald’s branch
Since the 1960s, residents of the Dutch city of Rotterdam have been bugged by an unsightly cigar shop on Coolsingel, one of its busiest streets. It received a much needed facelift earlier this year, designed by Mei Architects.
Multifamily Housing | Oct 7, 2015
BIG designs lush, terraced mixed-use building in Sweden
Cascading glass and wooden cubes create a form similar to Northern Ireland’s Giant’s Causeway rock formation.
Retail Centers | Oct 5, 2015
Minnesota’s massive Mall of America looks to nearly double its size
One phase is under construction, a second has been proposed, and a third is on the drawing board.
Multifamily Housing | Oct 1, 2015
Wiel Arets unveils twin, 558-foot mixed-use towers in Bahrain’s capital
The development, Bahrain Bay Tower, will consist of two residential towers connected “by a plinth of retail, office, parking, and public park space.”
Giants 400 | Sep 8, 2015
RETAIL SECTOR GIANTS: Callison RTKL, PCL Construction, Jacobs among top retail sector AEC firms
BD+C's rankings of the nation's largest retail sector design and construction firms, as reported in the 2015 Giants 300 Report
Retail Centers | Aug 31, 2015
Urban developers add supermarkets to the mixes
Several high-rise projects include street-level Whole Foods Markets.
Retail Centers | Aug 27, 2015
Vallco Shopping Mall renovation plans include 'largest green roof in the world'
The new owners of the mall in Cupertino, Calif., intend to transform the outdated shopping mall into a multi-purpose complex, topped by a 30-acre park.
Retail Centers | Aug 10, 2015
Walgreens’ flagship in Hawaii harkens back to the island’s fishing culture
A house where canoes were made served as the model for this drug superstore’s design.
Retail Centers | Jul 27, 2015
Fish-shaped shopping mall designed for odd plot of land in China
The mall, in Qinshui, a city in China’s Shanxi province, will fit within the 250x30-meter dimensions surrounded by parallel roads and two converging rivers.