Oregon State Capitol - CAMS
Salem, Oregon • Completed 2019
*Work completed at Mayer/Reed.
The Oregon State Capitol in Salem, Oregon is situated in an arboretum-like state park and is unique among statehouses in the United States. The existing neo-classical capitol building was lost to a fire in 1936, resulting in a national design competition for the new state capitol building during the art-deco era. The result was a ‘stripped classical / art deco’ building like no other state capitol in the United States.
Building upon the previously developed Oregon State Capitol Renovation, the Capitol Accessibility, Safety, and Maintenance (CAMS) project is the first phase of the state’s comprehensive modernization and seismic stabilization of the capitol building. Working with founding principal Carol Mayer-Reed, FASLA, Brian Stuhr served as landscape architect and project manager for Mayer/Reed’s project team.
The site design provides improved accessibility and circulation to the historic grounds.
The project modernizes and relocates the building’s mechanical and electrical systems into two large underground rooms, enabling a future seismic renovation project. The complexity of the landscape is hidden. The site improvements are largely at-grade landscape over structure, which conceal the massive new underground utility vaults. The site design provides improved accessibility and circulation to the historic grounds. The renovated west plaza is re-made as an accessible gathering space overlooking the oval Walk of Flags.
