Urban design studio partners with Fall River on City Pier Redevelopment Project via CPC

Patricio, Melissa A.

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Designed to Inspire: Local Officials Laud Students\u27 Work on Ferry Terminal

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Roger Williams UniversityDOCS@RWUFeatured News Story The Week at Roger12-21-2015Designed to Inspire: Local Officials Laud Students'Work on Ferry TerminalMelissa A. PatricioRoger Williams UniversityFollow this and additional works at: https://docs.rwu.edu/weekatroger_featured_newsPart of the Higher Education CommonsThis News Article is brought to you for free and open access by the The Week at Roger at DOCS@RWU. It has been accepted for inclusion in FeaturedNews Story by an authorized administrator of DOCS@RWU. For more information, please contact mwu@rwu.edu.Recommended CitationPatricio, Melissa A., "Designed to Inspire: Local Officials Laud Students' Work on Ferry Terminal" (2015). Featured News Story. 545.https://docs.rwu.edu/weekatroger_featured_news/545 News ArchiveDesigned to Inspire: Local O cials Laud Students'Work on Ferry TerminalUrban design studio partners with Fall River on City Pier Redevelopment Project viaCPCDecember 21, 2015 Melissa A. PatricioFALL RIVER, MASS. – Set on the eastern bank of Mount Hope Bay and the mouth of the Taunton River,the City of Fall River owes much of its rich history to the water. For generations the mill city served asAmerica’s leading textile manufacturer, powered by the Quequechan River.That was more than a century ago. Fall River’s mighty manufacturing industry fell victim to the GreatDepression and – despite valiant e orts to refashion itself with a garment industry that lasted into the1990s – the city has struggled to reclaim its legacy as an economic beacon. But Fall River’s motto,“We’ll Try,” continues to buoy revitalization e orts and city o cials are once again looking to the waterto redevelop the City Pier, calling on their neighbors across the Bay – Roger Williams Universityarchitecture students – to provide plans for a potential ferry terminal on Davol Street.Working with city planner Bill Kenney, students from Associate Professor Robert Dermody’sarchitecture studio spent the fall semester performing site analyses, studying ferries, researching thehistory of the Fall River Line – a ferry that provided transport to New York City until 1937 – and creatingdesigns for a contemporary ferry terminal. Earlier this month, 11 students were met with resoundingpraise as they showcased their ideas for government o cials and members of the public at City Hall.Kenney, who had just stepped into his role as city planner when the Community Partnerships Centerreached out with a call for project proposals late last summer, called the students’ work “striking,”joking that, “my job is in jeopardy because of the quality of the work that’s been displayed here.”“Part of a city planner’s job is to dream, and to think about what might be and what could happen – notonly on the waterfront, but throughout the city. And having the students come here and think out of thebox in sometimes nontraditional ways helps that process along. I’m very grateful for that,” Kenney said.The city pier redevelopment project dates back to 1982 when Fall River acquired the property byeminent domain – more than a decade before the student architects were even born. Hazardous wasteissues that are now close to remediation have plagued the project and prevented development of thearea.“This project was a wonderful challenge architecturally and a wonderful training tool because it’s a realsite that we were able to visit – we can almost see it rom our campus,” Dermody said. “It’s an urban,highly technical and very dynamic project rife with transportation issues, circulation issues, needing toaddress the  ood plain. A ferry terminal is fascinating – there’s lots of coming and going, and you haveto account for how you accommodate that in your design.”Working with a client – in this case, Kenney representing Fall River – made the project more real,Dermody said.“It’s not just the students in studio with a blank sheet of paper. They’re responding to the site, thehistory, the user and how it might be built. It’s a very real project in that sense,” Dermody said. Andthough the designs are likely to remain concepts, what the students are really providing is vision. “Theymay never build it there, but it can inspire the people who make the decisions. The students open theireyes to possibility, and the partner opened the students’ eyes to the realities of a project like this.”Working with a client was a new experience for many of the students, and a critical one in preparingthem for theprofession.“Working with the project partner really helped us to focus on  tting the design in the context of thecity of Fall River,” said senior Jake Schmidt, whose design featured repetitive elements to invoke afeeling of constant movement and a main building supported with large wooden “ribs” that invokeimages of a ship’s hull. “Mr. Kenney would ask questions that wouldn’t naturally come up in studio andcould specify what the city needs.”Sarah Gilloran agreed: “It gives you much more of a real perspective, especially when that’s what we’llbe doing in the future. It makes a big di erence.”The bene t of the partnership is “real talk,” said senior Taylor Messier. “Bill is the voice of the city andcould tell us what Fall River really needs.”“It’s a critical piece of the waterfront puzzle,” Kenney said. “This waterfront was designed andconceived to be a continuous program from the Battleship Cove area all the way up to the newVeterans Memorial Bridge, and this is like a missing tooth – a gaping hole – in that process. This projecthas great potential to serve not only those who live in the city but visitors alike.”The student designs have been turned over to the City of Fall River for future use as city o cialscontinue to promote the City Pier project. In the meantime, the partnership was so successful, Kenneysaid, that he will again partner with the School of Architecture during the spring semester onrehabilitation plans for Old Second Street, a bricked pedestrian walkway that will serve as a site for artsand culture programming via the Art, History and Architecture group AHA! Fall River.  

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Designed to Inspire: Local Officials Laud Students\u27 Work on Ferry Terminal

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