Downtown Hampton and Waterfront Plan

Location: Hampton, VA
Status: 2012-2013
Client: City of Hampton
Collaborators: Work completed while at Sasaki as Project Manager and Lead Urban Designer. With HR&A
Impact Area: Spaces and Places of Belonging

As traditional water-based industries scaled down, the City of Hampton recognized an opportunity to introduce more domestic uses like housing and retail to their downtown, balancing economic pressures with a commitment to keeping the waterfront public.

Located at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay and surrounded by water on three sides, Downtown Hampton has very limited public waterfront access. And while there is a healthy mix of maritime industry - both working and recreational - as well as research and development, most of the downtown shoreline is dominated by fishing and boat ports and neighborhood edges are mostly privatized. Working with the business and political leadership of Hampton, a public realm framework was developed to balance the need for more public waterfront access with growing pressure to introduce dense market-rate housing in the same areas.