The Blackinton Framework Plan

Master Plan - North Adams, MA

Client: The Beyond Group LLC

RH Team: Doug Reed, Chris Moyles, Jeremy Martin

My Role: Project Designer 2016 - 2019

This 72-Acre site straddles the Hoosic River in the heart of Blackinton, a historic district of North Adams, MA. The owners are a consortium of developers with backgrounds in music, food, and hospitality. The team is united by a mission to bolster the region’s flourishing cultural tourism economy by connecting visitors and communities with the site’s unique post-industrial, cultural, and natural offerings.

Former industrial uses on the site, including the namesake Blackinton Textile Mill and the North Adams Sewage Treatment Plant, shaped the terrain with a heavy hand. The master plan reconceives what was once a barren site engineered for stasis and control into an evolving landscape where remediation, management, and adaptive re-use enable leisure, recreation, gathering, lodging, and nature exploration.

I collaborated with the project team to analyze the site and its context, create and advance design concepts, study the design and adaptation of site-wide circulation, program, vegetation, and hydrologic systems, and synthesize the plan into a booklet deliverable for the client.

CULTIVATE DIVERSITY INVASIVE SPECIES MANAGEMENT ENCOURAGES NATIVE SPECIES TO FLOURISH

Remediate and Steward the Land (Above)

A newly-connected open space network features the Hoosic River as the primary unifying element. Proposed woodland invasive species management, ecological restoration, and wetland regeneration renew the health and diversity of Blackinton’s natural systems.

Hoosic Flows (Right)

Engineered landforms shelter some areas from flooding, while others are subject to the dynamic and unpredictable force of the river. This topography guided siting and program.

CAP AND FILL

A MEADOW OVERLOOK AND NEW, HEALTHY SOILS COVER THE FORMER TANNERY WASTE DUMP MOUND

RENEW HYDROLOGY

REMEDIATE NON-FUNCTIONING BORROW PIT WETLANDS TO IMPROVE ECOLOGICAL HEALTH AND HYDROLOGY

TREAD LIGHTLY ELEVATED BOARDWALKS MINIMIZE FOOTPRINT IN ECOLOGICALLY SENSITIVE AREAS

PROTECTED AT RISK

VULNERABLE 100-YEAR FLOODPLAIN

REVEAL LEGACY PUBLIC PATH THROUGH THE MILL PIPES EXPOSES VISITORS TO ARTIFACTS OF THE PAST

Renewing the Blackinton Mill

The Mill, which was once the economic cornerstone of the surrounding neighborhood, is revitalized as a space for gathering, lodging, and community.

Adapt, Re-use, and Reveal

The plan connects visitors with the industrial heritage of the site and region through engagement with it’s post-industrial artifacts. A proposed trail along the historic Blackinton Mill Race makes the site’s legacy legible and accessible by taking visitors through the decomissioned mill’s 9’ diameter sluice pipes.