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The Preble Street Resource Center Plaza

MRLD is please to be a member of the of Portland Public Market Host Committee in support of the Preble Street Resource Center on May 20th. MRLD in collaboration with James Sterling Architect designed both the Preble Street Resource Center and the Preble Street Teen Center. In describing the Preble Street Resource Center plaza, Maine Home + Design Magazine noted, “landscape architect Mitchell Rasor’s steel benches in the courtyard slant from high to low, offering a welcoming place to gather in the heart of the city for those utilizing the center.”

In addition to winning a 2008 AIA New England Merit Award, the Preble Street Resource Center received a 2006 AIA Maine Design Excellence Award. The jury cited ”its honesty, intelligence, and restraint in transforming a downtown street corner into an outdoor civic space that benefits users of the building and the neighborhood. It is an exceptional urban response to a challenging program using modest means. The project creatively reuses existing structures and incorporates such details as the bright colored lanterns to create a sense of welcome and presence. After their deliberations, the jury visited the site to find it animated by people congregating in the plaza on a late winter afternoon.”

MRLD has designed other social projects including Topsham Crossing, which was honored by the National Association of Homebuilders with an Award of Distinction for Innovation in Workforce Housing and as the Maine Association of Planners Project of the Year. The Lupine Terrace workforce housing neighborhood in Camden was honored as the Maine Association of Planners Project of the Year and as the New England Chapter of the American Association of Planners Project of the Year.

Highwood Square, a 21-unit affordable artist live / work project, designed by MRLD is currently under contruction in New Haven, CT.

Mitchell Rasor, while employed with Orcutt Associates, was the landscape designer for the original Portland Public Market, which was honored with a Congress for the New Urbanism Charter Award.

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Rockland was awarded a $600,000.00 Downtown Revitalization Grant from the Department of Economic and Community Development. MRLD in collaboration with Woodard & Curran, Smart Mobility and Scott Simons Architects completed the 2009 Rockland Downtown Revitalization Plan, which was the basis for the grant application.

rockland-downtown-master-plan.pdf

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Highwood Square, a collaboration with Ben Ledbetter Architect and Graftworks, is on schedule for completion in October. The mixed-use project includes 21 affordable artist live / work units, a gallery, a community room and commercial space. Two of the three buildings are historic structures with contemporary additions (third image below). Highwood Square includes a range of open spaces including a central “folded” common, performance areas, an open stormwater system and private gardens.

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MRLD is collaborating with Woodard & Curran and Smart Mobility on the Tillson Waterfront District Master Plan. The Master Plan includs an ideal build-out, the enabling codes and the the necessary infrastructure to support the community’s vision for the area. The underlying urban design principles for the Master Plan include form-based architecture and blocks, green infrastructure and context sensitive transportation solutions - creating a framework of new streets and buildings that maximize the economic, environmental and civic capacities of the site - allowing the District to absorb growth in a flexible, but responsible manner. In light of the increasing demand to live in walkable / mixed-use communities, the Tillson Waterfront District Master Plan is a model for sustainable urban revitalization in Maine.The City created a Tillson TIF District. The Master Plan provides detailed designs and cost estimates for the build-out in order for the City to strategically invest in the area, leveraging public / private partnerships

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