Concept
Waterfront property, eco-friendly architecture, historic setting and a picturesque downtown a stroll away. To pull all four elements together in one location would require a leap of imagination. But that’s exactly what’s been done in designing this condo complex for the town of Bath, Maine.
Soon Catherine Davis of CED & Associates breaks ground on the Front Street site that was once an old shipyard. For decades it lay abandoned despite its beautiful situation along the Kennebec River. The project draws the shipyard’s history into the present by making the bones of the old dry dock a feature of the new condo development. The landscape will become a “modern-day ruin,” Davis says.
Presales have started for the 20 new condos, designed to look like a converted yacht club. They will feature the latest in green technology and sustainable building techniques. Architect Chris Briley of the Green Design Studio has incorporated eco-sensitive materials like bamboo flooring and Paperstone countertops. In addition, cutting-edge technology for saving water and reducing heat loss will help minimize the buildings’ carbon footprint. The whole complex will be LEED certified.
Ranging from 1,200 to 2,000 square feet, the condos will be clustered in two buildings to preserve the natural environment. Underground car parking will further free up space for a post-industrial “moat” garden and a hillside rock garden that will surround the buildings with native plants and trees to enhance the park-like feel.
Wrapping together this unique combination of green sensibilities and shipping history, the condos will be a short 10-minute walk from historic downtown Bath. Future plans include piers and boat slips, Davis says, adding that she hopes the new complex will be the start of a revitalization of Bath’s waterfront.
The elegant town of Bath, perched on the banks of the Kennebec, has a long and storied relationship with the ocean. Known as the City of Ships, it was one of the country’s preeminent shipbuilding centers for over two centuries. Embracing that maritime heritage, the two-acre site of this green development literally sits on the grounds of an historic series of old shipyards, the last of which fell silent in the early 1900s.
Davis spent her childhood summers in Bath. She qualified as an Architect at the University of Westminster and The Architectural Association in London, and is a graduate in Landscape Design from the Harvard University Landscape Institute.
She says her goal in developing the site was to incorporate the very best of green building techniques into a prime example of smart growth development. “Our role as site designers and developers is to present physically beautiful solutions that are woven into the context of our environment — acknowledging the past and welcoming the future.”