Just finished an interesting article in today's New York Times about Lawrence Halprin, who designed such wonderful outdoor spaces in Portland as Ira Keller Fountain (across from what used to be called the Civic Auditorium); Pettygrove Park; and Lovejoy Plaza. Halprin's other works include the FDR Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., which I also love; and the re-design of the approach to Yosemite Falls, which is apparently quite the improvement over its predecessor.

There's a huge picture of the Keller Fountain in the print version of the Halprin profile, and a similar photo made it to the lead of the web version. (In the web photo, though, it looks like the water's been turned off -- bummer.) I just took some out-of-town guests by there last weekend as part of a downtown tour. It always pleases.

The Times article notes that Halprin installations in some cities (including Olympia) are falling apart, in part because no one cares enough to maintain them. Here in Portland, there are groups pitching in to preserve Halprin's works. Developer John Russell is named as someone who's pungled up $100K to keep Portland's Halprin spaces alive and vibrant.

I've been rude to Portland developers in this blog. When they do something great like this, they deserve credit. So here it is: Nice going, John Russell.