Here is a complete Vimeo video of Design Northampton Week’s third public “in-process” presentation and feedback session that took place on September 11. It’s one hour and 32 minutes long. Notre Dame students
presented ideas for revitalizing King Street between Bridge Road and North Street. They also made suggestions about Hospital Hill (Village Hill), particularly the part Kollmorgen is slated to move to. The final presentation will take place this afternoon at the Senior Center on Conz Street, from 4-6pm. The public is encouraged to attend.
Here are close-up pictures of some of the designs presented in the video. First up is King Street, with buildings brought up to form a more solid and harmonious line along the street, so pedestrians don’t feel adrift in a sea of paved surfaces,
an improved ‘gateway’ to the city as drivers exit the Interstate, and a new neighborhood center proposed for the area by Stop & Shop. The second group features existing and proposed designs for Hospital Hill (Village Hill).
See also:
Gazette: “A long-term look at city’s design: Students focus on Northampton as multiple centers” (9/12/08)
Much of the focus this week is on the concept of urban design, an alternative to sprawl that involves creating a mix of retail, housing, and other uses within a neighborhood. Philip Bess, the Notre Dame professor leading the class, describes these areas as “comfortable walking distances” of a half-mile square from edge to edge…
The most logical place to put compact growth in practice is at intersections of major streets that would serve as the center of neighborhoods, Bess said…
Video: June 26 Planning Board Meeting Discusses Hospital Hill, Citizens’ Advisory Committee, Northampton Soccer Club
22:30-51:14
Discussion of evolutions at Hospital Hill (Village Hill) with respect to Kollmorgen’s proposed new plant and other changes
- “The project still has to meet all the design guidelines.”
- “There’s a lot of components that definitely have to come back to you.”
- “If they meet the design guidelines, you’re limited to finding they
meet the design guidelines. If they don’t meet the design guidelines,
then anything goes.” - “I’m not necessarily opposed to Kollmorgen or any big, industrial
type thing up there, I just want it to be done in a way that meets the
village concept.” - “Conceptually, it’s OK with the CAC.”
- “I was surprised it happened without us knowing about it.”
- “My feeling is it’s going to be like an armed camp up there, and I
think it would be really desirable for them to design it so that they
didn’t feel that the parking lot had to be secure; could be a little
bit more of a village walking places.”
Valley Advocate: Northampton: No “Village” at Hospital Hill (6/12/08)
The footprint of Kollmorgen’s proposed development (130,000 square
feet), though, will take up more than half of the allotted industrial
space, biting right into the juiciest real estate and changing
everything. With the vote, the new road has been eliminated from the
plan…
Kollmorgen’s relocation effectively ends the fantasy of anything
remotely village-like emerging on the hill. Rather than a church
steeple at the crossroads of this New England hamlet, there will be a
tower for constructing periscopes surrounded by barbed wire.
Video: First public “in-process” presentation and feedback session for Design Northampton Week
Video: Second public “in-process” presentation and feedback session for Design Northampton Week
Video: Design Northampton Week Opening Presentation
Design Northampton Week: Full Schedule and Handout from Opening Presentation
Complete Slides from Northampton Design Week Opening Presentation