Metro Competition Category 3
Portland, Oregon | 2008
Awarded the first-place competition prize and published in Metropolis and Arcade, Kina was a principal member of the design team that explored the question of whether natural habitats in urban environments, such as remnant Oregon oak savanna, could be enhanced, restored and cultivated through careful development that also supports increased human density.
The team studied the remaining natural oak habitat particular to Northwest Oregon and the Willamette Valley region and its relationship to the larger fabric of neighborhood, street level and home-lot scales.
These studies provided the foundation for the integration of qualities beneficial to people, animals, and plants: sunlit paths, wildlife travel-ways, multi-storied urban tree canopies, rainwater collection systems, pedestrian and bike access, shared outdoor spaces, privacy screening, and ongoing propagation and regeneration of the oak forest that previously defined this place.