GLOUCESTER WATER PARK

“From public utility to public amenity.”

The design of public plants (water/waste/energy) seldom involve the architect, and the spatial consequences of these public projects result in unwelcoming architecture that makes no gesture to connect with the public, visually or socially (an image to illustrate this might be powerful). As part of the initial phases in water treatment system upgrades in Gloucester, the city has undertaken a substantial investment that serves the community as a whole; however, for a system, so public in nature, this investment exists uniquely out of sight of the city, buried beneath its surface, offering its constituents no other amenities beyond their core functions. Can there be an alternative model for public utilities? One that is as engaged in a city’s civic life as it is critical to its logistical operations? We see our project as an opportunity to reimagine an infrastructure that is social as well as physical; beautiful and multivalent. Celebrating the design of public utilities in the center of a city will change the perception of what “public utility’ is.