Block 49/Gray’s Landing Portland, Oregon

Gray’s Landing is the first affordable housing project in Portland’s South Waterfront District. Otak provided civil engineering and landscape architectural design for a 44,682-square-foot mixed-use development that includes residences, underground parking, and retail/office space with a courtyard. Portlanders understand how important it is to remain cheerful during the long wet season, so our design team found playful ways to engage the rain.

Sustainable Design Meets Affordable Housing Goals

Designed with sustainability in mind, both the courtyard and pedestrian areas consist of surfaces that are largely pervious—sand-set pavers, decking, metal grates, flow-through planters, and landscaping. Stormwater runoff from the rooftop is conveyed through a series of playful in-wall and overhead weirs that distribute the rainwater into the courtyard flow-through planters, eventually dropping the treated water into an artistic stormwater feature at grade level. Portland’s significant investment in the project, valued at $28 million, is solid proof of the community’s commitment to providing affordable homes for our lowest-income neighbors. Forty-two of the 209 apartments are targeted to veterans, especially those who have experienced chronic homelessness. The project earned LEED Platinum certification.