Prescott Post

This redevelopment of 26 acres on the periphery of Portsmouth, New Hampshire replaces retail with residential and a big box + parking lot with humanely-scaled spaces ranging from urban to pastoral. Situated amidst a diffuse territory of malls, motels, megastores, and marsh, the development connects to and through this landscape, capitalizing upon convenience while deepening social and environmental bonds.

An extension of the primary roadway and sidewalk links the development’s core to a nearby commercial center. Framed by four-story residential buildings, a community building and central green, this Main Street becomes an active zone for residents and public alike. The community building contains a communal lounge, kitchen, fitness center, co-working spaces, and mailroom, ensuring that residents visit (with one another) everyday. Its social spaces spill into a park containing decks, water features, playspace, and plaza for evening and weekend gathering. 

The plaza in turn connects to a paved Mews where automobiles exist alongside a pedestrian promenade. While parking flanks one side of residential buildings, equal consideration is given to providing adjacent pocket parks, gardens, and greenways. In this regard, the community building acts as a hinge between the central green and a Meadow defined by three-story buildings. Herein, a gravel path meanders amidst verdant plantings and extends into the surrounding Marsh, offering residents a natural escape – even as they might traverse wetlands just to arrive at a Trader Joes!                 

A varied set of studio, one-bedroom, and two-bedroom residential units are gathered into a four-story, 24-unit elevator building whose linear facades define urban edges and a three-story, 12-unit walk-up building whose staggered plan is aggregated to create forecourts and eddies of outdoor space.