Overview

Stretching along the west bank of the Willamette River in the center of the city of Portland, Oregon, the 30-acre Park serves as Downtown Portland’s front yard. 

While the Park is recognized as an iconic and vital part of Portland’s urban landscape, Portlanders are increasingly aware that it is not living up to its full potential. During the festival season, the Park attracts large crowds, and has some highly successful features including the Portland Saturday Market, the Japanese American Memorial and mature cherry trees, and Salmon Street Springs Fountain.

However, most of the year it is used mainly as a popular walking and cycling corridor during the day, and has few takers in the evening.

Currently, the Park lacks the amenities, accessibility, and river connections needed to appeal to residents, families, workers and visitors, to give them a reason to stay.

This initiative, overseen by the client Portland Parks & Recreation (PP&R), is intended to renew the Park to better serve Portlanders and visitors and reaffirm Portland’s identity as a river city.

One of the most consequential civic projects this decade, it will activate the river’s edge and foster a ​‘toes in the water’ human connection as well as create new and inspiring views to the Park and the Willamette River. Improved physical connections to neighboring Downtown are expected along with advancing the Willamette’s ecological recovery and biodiversity.

The Park will be re-envisioned as a premier destination; a place that celebrates the city’s diverse cultural and Indigenous heritage. New infrastructure will better support major events, civic celebrations and everyday memory making – boosting the local economy and re-energizing the Central City core.

A bureau of the City of Portland, PP&R serves as the steward of Portland’s natural beauty and community vitality, managing a diverse portfolio of over 11,000 acres of land that includes more than 200 parks, public gardens and natural areas, and 158 miles of regional trails.

This endeavor offers an extraordinary design challenge for ambitious and talented teams led by architects and landscape architects to leave a legacy for Portland’s future. Shortlisted proposals will need to resonate deeply with Portlanders, reflect the city’s values, aspirations, and unique identity, and anticipate the needs of future generations to signal a new era for this exceptional American city.

In combination with multi-bureau coordinated efforts, this project is one of the mayor’s priorities for Downtown revitalization. The estimated capital project budget for the redevelopment of the Bowl is set at circa US $40 million. The intention is to raise further funding for design development of the Park and phased construction through a combination of private and public funding.

To realize this ambitious initiative, the project now requires world-class design that encompasses outstanding placemaking, innovative technologies, thoughtful sustainability and inclusivity approaches, and ecological expertise.

Accordingly, this two-stage competition seeks architect-led or landscape architect-led multi-disciplinary teams with an open call for submissions at the first stage. Portland Parks & Recreation welcomes local, regional, national and international design teams (including a qualified Architect / Landscape Architect of Record registered in the State of Oregon).

No design is required at the first stage – rather teams will need to respond to the Search Statement, part of the Request for Qualifications documentation, by submitting details of their approach to the project, team composition, relevant experience and company information through the City of Portland’s online portal.

The three teams who reach the second stage (Request for Proposals) will be expected to respond to the competition brief by creating a bold and original concept design for the whole Park while responding specifically to the Bowl. Each shortlisted team will receive a competition fee of US $50,000 at the conclusion of the process.

A public exhibition of the shortlist’s concept designs will be held in Portland in early 2027, with opportunities for the community to comment. The designs will also be available to view online through the competition website. Shortlisted teams will present to the competition Jury in early 2027, and the winner announcement is expected in Spring.

The Request for Qualifications (RFQ) stage deadline is 16:00 PDT (UTC‑7) Thursday July 30 2026.