By Carol McCracken  (Post # 645)

Portland has announced the four finalists in the Bayside Trail Bench competition.  Two of the finalists are from Portland and the other two are from Rhode Island and New Hampshire.  The two from Portland are TFH Architects on Middle Street and Soren deNiord.

Dennis Morelli of TFH Architects worked on the bench competition.  In a recent telephone conversation, Morelli said his firm actually entered two submissions to the competition.  The one that made its way into the final round is called the Unity Bench design.  According to Morelli, the firm felt pretty “confident” with both entries.

TFH has been involved in numerous architectural projects in Portland – in both the housing and commerical fields.  The City  Council is expected to make a final decision later this month on which finalists wins.  It could conceivably be all four designs – with each designer erecting one bench or just one design doing all four planned benches for the Bayside Trail.  Installation and dedication is planned for next spring.  deNiord could not be reached for comment. 

For more background information on this competition, please see Post # 587, dated September 20th herein.