Journal
Joined-up walking
The Paul Hogarth Company was appointed in 1991 by Laganside, the developers of a 200ha area of Belfast on the site of the historic docks on the banks of the River Lagan, to formulate a ‘linkage strategy’ for the area. While several areas of the redevelopment were already up and running by this time, there was a strong sense that the different areas of the development were not linking together, nor were they effectively tied back into the city centre or the residential neighbourhoods to the east of the city.
Central to the linkage strategy was the creation of a legible hierarchy of spaces and, even more importantly, a hierarchy of routes. When the practice came onto the project they became aware that the developers had been thinking in terms of destinations and neglecting consideration of how the connections between those should work. The architects set to work, discussing with the client whether existing connections needed to be renewed or enhanced or if altogether new connections would be required.
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