Project

The MAX Reuse Design Challenge invites designers to participate in a strategic initiative to explore visions for the repurposing and reuse of retiring MAX cars to benefit communities in the Metro region. Our partners at the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability and TriMet recognize this as a wonderful opportunity to provide resources for our region while preventing these cars from ending up as waste or scrap. While the reuse of these cars may be approached from any angle, we hope that they will be rooted in an acknowledgement of Portland’s need to act quickly and creatively to address homelessness, climate change, income equality, housing insecurity, and racial inequity among other important social and environmental issues. Additionally, our current pandemic has revealed significant gaps in our social and physical infrastructure to be able to adequately respond to emergency situations, and the ongoing protests against police brutality and in support of black lives have highlighted how safety in public space and access to resources is experienced very differently among BIPOC communities. These unprecedented events provide additional potential avenues worthy of exploration. The resulting work was displayed at the Oregon Rail Heritage Center, with the exhibit opening on August 25, 2020.

10 incredible designs were submitted from members of the local design community that we hope will advance the dialogue around new visions for addressing community need with an impactful resource that would otherwise go to waste. These designs will inform future work of this nature in our region for years to come. Already, the AfroVillage has received grant funding to pursue next steps on turning their project proposal into a stationary resource within Portland, and partners at the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability, TriMet, and the CPID are supporting these next steps. Let’s strive to make more of these visions a reality!

Location