Mill Race Re-Beautification (Summer 2022)

Mill Race Beautification is a three-block green space that connects Willamette University to Salem's Civic Center and the south edge of downtown. It was designed and installed in the early 1970's as a companion to the new Civic Center. It replaced a derelict collection of factories that had relied on the race for power. The space has elements of a Japanese stroll garden as they might have been interpreted by a 1970's brutalist designer: stream, islands, and a waterfall with clipped hedges, dense ground cover, and clipped shrubs. The original design is intact. My suggested design refreshes the space by rehabilitating and improving the plant material. The City of Salem is taking some steps to implement the design.