Responses by Robin Howie, founder and creative director, Fieldwork Facility.
Background: Bath River Line is a ten-kilometer riverside trail that runs through the historic center of Bath, United Kingdom. Since the 1800s, the city has commemorated historic floods by carving dates, lines and arrows into buildings along the riverside. The new brand, signage and interpretation take inspiration from the seasonal changes along the river and specifically these historic flood level markings.
Bath is internationally famed for its Roman Baths and Georgian architecture. However, historically, the city of Bath has missed opportunities to celebrate its nature, industrial heritage and broader connections with water along the River Avon. The Bath River Line now creates a linear park along the riverside and features interpretation across three themes: “Riparian Nature,” “Hidden History” and “Water! Water!”
The new brand and signage signal completion of the first phase of works that will see biodiversity continue to flourish in a reinvigorated greenway that meanders through the city, encouraging active travel.
Design core: The brand identity draws inspiration from the tradition of commemorating floods by carving markings into walls. It is complemented with typography inspired by the city’s industrial heritage and a color palette that references local riparian nature.
Challenges: Bath’s entire city center is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Rightfully, the city is very protective about what additions can be made to its protected public realm. Bath’s street surfaces, furniture, lighting and details are guided by a consistent design palette so the city reads as one place. We did a lot of work to make sure the identity was not only fit for purpose but also appropriate for the historical context it sits within. The wayfinding and signage were made with blackened steel, which was a new addition to Bath’s public realm but complements the city’s precedent of patinated brass and bronze.
We also looked for more ways to stitch the Bath River Line identity into the existing and ongoing public realm. For example, Bath has an incredibly elegant Georgian streetscape. One of the guidelines the city has was to reinforce the circular forms found there, like the rows of townhouses known as the Royal Crescent and the Circus. We chose Grosa by Feliciano Type for the project’s lead typeface for its circular letterforms and overall industrial character. Wherever possible, we stitched Bath’s heritage into the identity while making something new.
Favorite details: I’m really proud that we leaned into this history of flooding and made it into a celebration of the city’s forgotten heritage. I don’t say this statement lightly; floods have had a devastating effect on the city throughout history. However, Bath has been very resilient, building flood defenses throughout the years that have shaped the city. Pulteney Weir, a bridge on the Bath River Line, is one of the city’s most visited attractions, and it was originally built as a flood defense mechanism!
It’s not just historic examples either. More recently, the redeveloped Bath Quays area had a small park introduced, which is a nice place to hang out in the summer and designed to purposefully flood in the winter when the river rises. Bath hasn’t had any devastating floods for decades, but the changing height of the river is a normal event. Our aim with our identity design was to invite locals to slow down and take interest in riparian life throughout the seasons.
New lessons: It’s always a pleasure learning new things on projects! This time around, it was ace to learn about riparian ecosystems. It’s pretty amazing that a city as big as Bath is home to so many species of bats and birds like kingfishers and peregrine falcons (we spotted both). We even spotted beaver tracks just outside the city. We still haven’t spotted the local otters, though.
Specific project demands: We worked within a pretty modest budget, and the interpretation along the trail had to be compelling without falling flat after a few years. So often, I find that municipal interpretation just dates itself really quickly.
Budget-wise, we had to predominantly work with the council of Bath’s own archival imagery. However, we commissioned Marian Hill, a Bath-based artist who makes fantastic collages, to illustrate the riparian nature panels. You can’t even tell at first, but when you take a closer look, you’ll see all sorts of found materials making up the otters, eels, bats and bugs.
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