This study in regenerative place-making aimed to answer the following questions: What makes Rochester unique and how can the urban qualities of the existing town inform the design of a significant new waterfront development?
Rochester’s crooked, medieval High Street, linked to intimate, interconnecting courtyards, along with the narrow slipways of the former boat yards lining the river were all reinterpreted and used to structure the new masterplan.
Additional, site-specific elements were then introduced to reinforce the identity of this new ‘place’. These included a transitional gateway linking the old and the new; a wharf with a mooring for tall ships, and; ‘The Pebbles’ – four distinctive buildings overlooking a new habitat park on the banks of the Medway.
The result is a strengthened visual and spatial connectivity and a fresh resonance between the old and the new, which together help to integrate Rochester Riverside into the wider town and diminish the potentially isolating effect of the existing railway viaduct.