KINGSBRIDGE LANE, SOUTHAMPTON

'The Clock Tower, Kimber's Chimney, reaches156 feet in height...'

My role within this project was to develop a contextual response to the site, which was used to influence the landscape design and regenerative design process in collaboration with Simon Taylor & Lucie Vosicka of  Balfour Beatty Living Places , Southampton City Council and Hardscape.

14 lines of granite text - all relevant to the site - are water-jet cut and inset into robust black basalt slabs or sandblasted directly into the stone surface. This work is a continuation of the Canal Shore Kerb artwork which runs for 205m from Southampton Central Station to the bottom of Kingsbridge Lane, following the line of the pre-1930's shoreline. The extension of this work along the length of Kingsbridge Lane now connects the Station Quarter with the Civic Centre and Cultural Quarter.

Kingsbridge Lane in Southampton is a historically important and longstanding pedestrian-only route with no vehicular access. This makes the site significant to Southampton. It is a long surviving link to the western route in and out of Southampton along the coastal strand, which formed the northern shore of the River Test Estuary until the early 20thCentury. The footpath runs along a narrow strip of land between the existing railway tunnel and the historic and long abandoned tunnel of the Southampton to Salisbury Canal, which ran along what is now Blechynden Terrace, linking Central Station to the Guildhall Square &Cultural Quarter. 

Above: Aerial Image by permission of Southampton Daily Echo