Biking is for Everyone
A best practices guide developed collaboratively while at GBD Architects, 2016
When we design for bikes, we design for wheelchairs, strollers, guide dogs, and more.
Knowing that Portland intends to significantly increase its bike commute rate citywide, GBD Architects recognized that as designers, our buildings would need to keep up, if not lead.
With two excellent colleagues, Libby Corliss and Ashley Koger, I developed a best practices and examples guide, which quickly became a useful tool for GBD designers and clients. I was responsible for a lot of the writing, case study imagery collection and organization, and graphic design.
Importantly, we showed our colleagues that designing for bikes in buildings actually helps create more inclusive and active spaces overall. We also talked about designing for diverse riders and bikes to ensure that biking can be an inclusive form of active transportation.
We started with our own knowledge.
We hosted an internal charrette to kick off this best practices project. Many of us were regular commuters, or wanted to be. We brought a range of experiences that shaped a nuanced idea of what we would need for bike spaces that went above and beyond code.
Then we let our imaginations take over.
With lots of interest in making biking a primary form of sustainable transportation, we realized we could look beyond local examples to international designs that prioritized bikes in an entirely new way. We let ourselves dream big, and GBD’s excellent bike-centered work since then proves we made the right choice.