Donning hard hats and trekking around a building site recently gave university design and planning students a unique view of their future professional careers.

In January, Homer Williams and Trevor Rowe of Williams and Dame Development, Inc., hosted 75 students and faculty members in architecture and planning on a personal tour of Portland’s newest neighborhood, the South Waterfront development. Williams, noted for his progressive urban development ideas, explained the vision of the new neighborhood and its transportation and open space goals. He gave students an insight into the design intentions, the range of players involved, and an overview to the necessary public/private partnerships that he credits with making this ambitious project possible.

Nico Larco, assistant professor of architecture, said this experience provided “an excellent real world case study to some of the ideas we talk about in class, especially in relation to the roles different players take in how this area is getting developed (developer, designer, planner, citizens, etc).”

Rowe provided details on the current status of the housing and medical building towers under construction and the process used to develop the horizontal and vertical development. This dynamic project includes other key partners such as Gerding Edlen Development, Hoffman Construction, TVA Architects, GBD Architects, and Thomas Hacker and Associates. It will continue to advance Portland’s goals for housing and urban redevelopment in a former industrial warehouse site along the Willamette River.

The River Blocks area will provide for housing, mixed use retail centers, affordable housing units, and medical buildings related to Oregon Health and Sciences University (OHSU) that will be connected to Portland’s public transportation system. Plans for an aerial tram connecting the OHSU campus with the high density housing will offer access to one of the city’s major employers.

Reflecting on her visit, Amanda Erickson, graduate student in architecture, said “having lived in Portland during the great tram debate, it was really interesting to see the model and hear the plans for development. I was really excited by OHSU’s interest in having the building get an Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Platinum rating. I think that shows that Portland is headed in the right direction and that developers are starting to listen to what the community wants in new development.”