ROCKVILLE DOWNTOWN CHARRETTE

Rockville is the historic town center of Vernon, CT, a formerly bustling industrial area home to a series of textile mills along the Hockanum River, which runs through its downtown. With the departure of manufacturing, however, Rockville lost much of its former vitality and, by the middle of the 20th century, had fallen victim to the forces of urban renewal, resulting in the demolition of several historic buildings and, most notably, a paved parking lot over top of the Hockanum River.

Through its association with The Connecticut Main Street Center, the Yale Urban Design Workshop was asked by the Rockville Downtown Association to conduct a weekend design charrette in which students and professors from the Yale School of Architecture collaborated with the citizens of Rockville to identify and apply healthy urban design principles towards the creation of a new revitalization plan.

Professors Keith Krumweide and Edward Mitchell, along with collaborating local architect Bradford Korder, directed the two-day charrette, which was coordinated by Yale student Jessica Niles.