Vera Katz Park
Vera Katz Park
Vera Katz Park
Vera Katz Park
Vera Katz Park
Vera Katz Park
Vera Katz Park
Vera Katz Park
Vera Katz Park
Vera Katz Park
Vera Katz Park
Vera Katz Park

A sloping, narrow sidewalk in Portland’s Pearl District now features a flowing watercourse that invites passing pedestrians to sit and gather.

A sloping, narrow sidewalk in Portland’s Pearl District now features a flowing watercourse that invites passing pedestrians to sit and gather.

Vera Katz Park
Vera Katz Park
Vera Katz Park
Vera Katz Park
Vera Katz Park
Vera Katz Park

To transform the empty sidewalk into an inviting Sliver park, landscape architect, Scott Murase, collaborated closely with Yellow Mountain as the project moved from vision to fabrication to execution. He considers “creative editing” an integral part of successful design.

Our fabricators assembled a full-scale version of the stonework for Murase’s online inspection and approval before the materials were crated and shipped via ocean transport. Yellow Mountain StoneWorks’ President John Williams worked on site with the landscape architect to reshape and sculpt the pieces, as many key aesthetic decisions were improvised on site.

A three-layer stacked “source stone” of our Preto Carvaõ Basalt contains the headwaters at the highest point of the park. The veneer on the water channels is made of the same granite, complementing the massive rough-hewn basalt of the building that abuts the sidewalk.