Shapiro Didway

01/17/2025

Details – the ligaments of place, connecting each material and experience, creating identity, and bringing refinement and cohesion. They shape how a space invites boisterous celebration or quiet moments of reflection. The details matter.

01/03/2025

Wellness – biophilia turns a residence into a home, and a lush courtyard into a community. Exercise, socialization, relaxation, and nourishment are at the heart of three unique elevated courtyards and a public green street recently completed in Hillsboro, Oregon. Two courtyards were designed for vibrant, community-focused residents, with one dedicated to independent living – each distinct yet collectively holistic. Covered outdoor cooking stations, a swimming pool, bocce court, water feature, fire tables, seating nooks, and a sensory walking loop – every feature is designed to support healthy, community-centered living.

12/02/2024

Every scale, texture, tone, and form transforms a space into an experience, from bold gestures to subtle details, all crafted with intention.

05/08/2024

📍Heritage High School

SD worked on a renovation project for Heritage High School’s campus in Vancouver, Washington, completed in 2023. The plaza at Heritage High School serves as a deliberate link between the existing school and a newly added building, extending seamlessly to the track and field area. It functions as a dynamic community hub, accommodating events and sports activities alike. The renovation effort prioritized the revitalization of the utility yard and service drop-off zone, turning it into a lively plaza. This transformation provides students, staff, and the community with a secure and inviting outdoor space for their daily activities and social gatherings.

04/30/2024

We believe in a collaborative design approach that creates outdoor spaces for all, enriching communities through innovative placemaking and fostering our practice through shared support and growth. By collaborating with our design partners and clients, we eliminate barriers to creative thinking and project success.

When designing outdoor spaces in educational environments, we prioritize inclusivity, universal access, and experiences that nurture a sense of community. This approach and design philosophy enriches our educational projects, including the campuses of Heritage High School, Mountain View High School, and VITA Elementary School.

The plaza at Heritage High School purposefully connects the existing school to a new building addition and extends to the track and field area, serving as a vibrant community hub for both events and sports activities. The renovation focused on revitalizing the utility yard and service drop-off zone, transforming it into an active and engaging plaza that offers students, staff, and the community a safe and welcoming outdoor environment for their everyday activities and gatherings.

The completely rebuilt Mountain View High School campus incorporates various gathering areas thoughtfully placed to curate moments for social interaction and provide reprieve for students and staff of all abilities. The site embraces equity, inclusion, and a connection to nature through the integration of biophilic design principles. Wildlife habitat nodes, adaptable outdoor educational areas, stormwater features, and a sensory garden pathway all support the school's programmatic uses.

VITA Elementary brings the inside out with an accurately scaled solar system model emanating from the second-story learning stair down throughout the site. Planets, orbits, and constellations are integrated into the site surfacing with inlays, text, and Braille to provide educational moments and allow students exploration. A variety of spaces including an amphitheater, nature play area, sensory garden, butterfly garden, playground, and outdoor classroom all support educational activities, teamwork, gatherings, imaginative play, socialization, exercise, and wildlife. Beyond serving the students and staff, the school is a valuable recreational asset for the community outside operational hours.

04/17/2024

📍Washougal Towncenter Revitalization

In collaboration with Robertson Fick Engineering and the City of Washougal, we created a fly-through video of the towncenter revitalization project that includes dog parks, a splash pad, outdoor recreational spaces, picnic tables & seating areas and more! The Towncenter Revitalization project stands as a testament to honoring Washougal's unique cultural identity that has evolved over time. We aim to cultivate a vibrant community hub that resonates with both current and future generations. Rooted in principles of inclusivity, resilience, sustainability, and adaptability, among others, these guidelines are the result of feedback from city staff, discussions from 10 stakeholder meetings, and the perspectives of over 500 community members through an online survey.

More updates to come! 😍

04/16/2024

This month's employee highlight is our Marketing Coordinator, Alexa Antipas 💬

"I love the creativity and freedom behind design. There are so many different facets of design and I want to explore them all. The possibilities are endless."

Alexa is our Marketing Coordinator and Graphic Designer who joined our team in January of 2023. She specializes in integrating brand strategy and identity into proposals and client deliverables, alongside crafting engaging social media content and comprehensive design packages. She demonstrates a consistent drive for excellence in all marketing and design assets that align with brand standards and meet client expectations.

04/12/2024

📍Veterans Plaza

In October 2019, the City of Tualatin Parks and Recreation engaged Shapiro Didway to create a concept and select a preferred site for a Veterans Plaza based on input from the Tualatin community. The first phase of outreach focused on envisioning the plaza. We gathered big ideas by engaging with the community, holding focus group discussions, and conducting a public survey. We then synthesized the feedback into categories and refined it into five core themes, which were reviewed and finalized by the Stakeholder Advisory Committee (SAC) members. Finally, the public had an opportunity to clarify whom the Veterans Plaza should honor and select desired objectives under each core theme.

Core themes + objectives: Connection, Shared Values, Engagement, Timelessness, and Experience.

Following this effort our team worked closely with Tualatin Parks and Recreation to develop a second phase of community engagement that would foster discussion, identify, and explore as many diverse community perspectives as possible. This process informed the creation of a conceptual design that embraced the community's vision.

The goal of the outreach effort was to capture the visions and concerns of the community. Participation from over 900 people enriched the process and confirmed the community's sentiment for the future plaza.

Please swipe through to see some behind-the-scenes of the community engagement and design renderings of the Veterans Plaza! 👉

Stay tuned for updates on the finished project!😍

03/19/2024

10/04/2023

This month's employee highlight is Brenda Fairbanks 👏

Brenda is a Landscape Designer who joined our team in November of 2022 and has over 10 years of experience designing spaces around the country! She has spent her life travelling and living in many different places which has influenced her approach to design. Her areas of expertise are multi-family and senior housing.

Happy to have you on our team, Brenda! ✨

08/31/2023

Jessel and Jake went out to see the latest updates for the Lincoln City Cultural Center! 👏

Jessel is selecting text size and font type for the Lincoln City Cultural Center Poetry Path project, a 393 foot long pedestrian walkway with an artistic seeded aggregate treatment and sandblasted community poem.

"There's a lot of different things happening in the poem, sometimes words that seem contradictory are right together in the poem, and I think that's a tribute to the multiplicity of voices that participated in the creation of it." - John Fiedler, Lincoln City poet

Excited to see the completed project! Stay tuned 🤩

08/23/2023

This months employee highlight goes to .... *drum roll please🥁* Landscape Architect Mario Martin! 👏

Mario Martin is a Landscape Architect with professional design and management experience for both public and private projects along the west coast. Mario has cultivated his love for plants since childhood, starting in his own garden and working at local nurseries, interning at the National Tropical Botanical Garden, and even managing a seed testing laboratory. Since joining Shapiro Didway, Mario has worked on both public and private projects, including several projects for public schools in Southwest Washington, paying special attention to high-quality, climate-adaptive, low maintenance plans with longevity.

Mario is a great asset to our team & we are lucky to have him! 🤩