JOHN MERRITT

ROCK ROW - Westbrook, ME

Rock Row is a mixed-use project that attempts to transform a former sand and gravel borrow pit into a vibrant community for residents and visitors.  Our challenge was to reconcile the mandates of commercial development -- gross leasable area, ergonomics, programming, user experience -- with the inhospitable conditions brought by a heavily impacted landscape, all while capitalizing on this dramatic, re-purposed human-made topographic feature. 

The status of this site as a former quarry presented the structural and civil engineers with some immediate technical concerns.   The soil conditions are not suitable for building construction, requiring site improvements such as pre-loading, wick drains, and rigid inclusions.  The stability of the quarry rim is questionable, requiring the installation of 56'-0" long ground rods to reinforce the edge.  The site does not drain well, requiring earthworks on a massive scale as shown in the aerial photos below.  To address the drainage problems, the project team decided the quarry will be re-born, in part, as a giant catch basin for site drainage.  It will be outfitted with an overflow at the appropriate height to create a lake for recreation and to allow for control of the water level. 

Construction will occur in four phases.  The exhibits here describe only the first phase centered around an anchor tenant and the Northwestern quarry edge.

Office:  Site Solutions
Status:  Construction in progress, Phase One structures nearly complete
Principal-in-Charge:  David Floyd
Design Landscape Architect:  Kevin McCarthy
Project Management:  John Merritt
Rendering Assistance:  Drew Wiklund

The historic photos show where we started.  The site preparation can be seen below in a pair of drone photos taken in Spring 2019 by the same engineering firm that scanned the quarry.  With the aerial photos, you can understand the massive scale of this project.

The following were renderings presented at the International Council of Shopping Centers to attract investors.  While in certain instances, they depict a project that is unrealistically ambitious, you get a sense of the developer's vision for transforming the site.

As long, cold Winters are characteristic of the climate in Maine, luring people to the site during the Winter months becomes a particular challenge.  Setting aside the impulse to offer après ski amenities like St. Bernards serving bourbon, we need to give people a reason to leave the comforts of their homes and come here.  This dilemma requires us to give a heightened level of care and attention to outdoor space programming, taking cues from the culture and landscapes endemic to New England.  We also need to consider how the outdoor spaces can to do double duty from hot to cold weather.  For instance, the food truck area of Summer would become the curling rink in Winter.  (The following are reference images.)

Rock Row is also to serve as the nexus of a regional trail system called Portland Trails.  This network of multi-use paths will connect natural features such as Jewell Falls and cultural nodes such as Thompsons Point in downtown Portland.

We are collaborating with Fred Yalouris and Terrence J. DeWan & Associates of Yarmouth, Maine to establish the form and character of this critical feature.

Below are some reference images used for ideas and discussion.

As the project design development progresses toward the quarry edge, we have to start thinking about ways we can address the meeting of the rim and the proposed scheme that ensure a safe user experience.  In addition to the requisite 42" height fence, we worked with the civil engineers to reinforce the rim with ground rods to ensure stability.

Thus far, the design team has been focused on the experience of this place at the mixed use development level, the "top-down" experience I'll call it.  We now needed to start thinking about ways of inviting people into the quarry in order to create the "bottom-up" experience.  Along the quarry haul road, there is a recess in the rock face that leaves us with a considerably sized flat area.  One idea the design team has, in this very preliminary stage, is an event space to be branded the Wedding Grotto.  The recess does not have an overhead plane, therefore lacking a critical characteristic of caves, so "grotto" perhaps is a misnomer.  But we are running with it for the time being.

One of the consulting engineers made a drone scan of the quarry and generated a point cloud from the data.  Our office was able to use this point cloud to generate a surface mesh.  We could then apply surface materials resulting in a reasonably accurate 3D model of the existing quarry.

We needed to study the various conditions around the rim of the quarry and how visitors would interface with this edge.  This series of sections is arranged in a counter-clockwise sequence around the quarry starting from the main entrance.

The perspectives here stress the importance of the quarry edge path in conducting pedestrians and cyclists into the site and creating a dramatic experience.