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AIA Philadelphia Yearbook
2011 Awards for Design Excellence
yearbook | 2011 | 4
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Foreword
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2011 Awards for Design Excellence
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Gold Medal
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Silver Medal
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Honor and Merit Awards
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Exhibitors
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Center for Architecture
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Louis I. Kahn Memorial Lecture
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Design on the Delaware
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Canstruction
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Community Design Collaborative
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Charter High School for Architecture and Design
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Building on 300 Years
Foreword The Philadelphia Chapter of the American Institute of Architects presents this publication as a record of the achievements in design, planning, and execution of architectural projects made by its member firms. This year’s volume gathers together the award-winning and exhibited projects featured in the Chapter’s 2011 Awards for Design Excellence, which are presented annually to recognize significant achievements in architecture. Within these pages you will find a snapshot of the hundreds of projects that were submitted to the Design Awards. They include a diverse range of buildings, including houses, government buildings, places of worship, museums, schools, university buildings, healthcare facilities, restaurants, corporate headquarters, and professional offices. These projects reveal the dramatic way in which architecture impacts the physical environment and how members of the American Institute of Architects are making great strides in creating more valuable, healthy, secure, and sustainable communities and cityscapes. The work of AIA Philadelphia members appears both at home and abroad, advancing the future of the built environment in places as far away as Asia and the Middle East, a testament to their commitment to good design. On the cover: Blackney Hayes Architects' Le Meridien. Photo courtesy Jeffrey Totaro Photographer.
Maxx/Robinson Construction, Inc. Residential Construction & Renovation 713 N. Cedar Rd. Jenkintown, PA 19046 Phone: 215-909-4007 215-669-4941 E-mail: maxxrobinson@verizon.net
Steve Robinson
PA Home Improvement Contractor No. PA041430 Member, Eastern Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce
Visit us on the Web: www.maxxrobinsonconstruct.intuitwebsites.com yearbook | 2011 | 5
2011 Awards for Design Excellence At the 2011 Awards for Design Excellence, held October 6, 2011, at the Loews Philadelphia Hotel, 13 architectural projects received awards. The Gold Medal and Silver Medals were both presented to KieranTimberlake for the Morse and Ezra Stiles Colleges and Dilworth Plaza. In addition, the following awards were given by AIA Philadelphia for individual achievement:
Platinum Sponsor CVM Construction
Gold Sponsors Gallagher Benefit Services Powell Trachtman Logan Carrle & Lombardo, PC
Silver Sponsor O’Donnell & Naccarato
AIA Philadelphia John Harbeson Award, for lifetime achievement of the highest standards of professionalism, accomplishment, and regard for the development of his younger colleagues Richard W. Bartholomew, FAIA, AICP, PP AIA Philadelphia Young Architects Award, for demonstrated excellence and exceptional contributions to the field of architecture Michael Kelly, AIA, LEED AP KBCA Architects Design Awards Jury: Buzz Yudell, FAIA Moore Rubel Yudell Architects + Planners, Santa Monica, CA Julie Eizenberg, AIA Koning Eizenberg, Santa Monica, CA Lawrence Scarpa, FAIA Brooks + Scarpa Architects, Los Angeles, CA Nick Seierup, FAIA Perkins + Will, Los Angeles, CA Linda Pollari, RA Otis College of Art & Design, Los Angeles, CA
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Bronze Sponsors Diener Brick Company
Copper Sponsors Advanced office environments Cohen seglias pallas greenhall & furman, PC domus GAI Consultants Griffiths Construction illuminations, INC. IMS AUDIO/VISUAL KEAST & HOOD Co. Thornton Tomasetti W.S. Cumby
Design Committee Lonny Rossman, AIA, co-chair Joshua Otto, AIA, co-chair James Converse, AIA Megan Delavan, AIA Jules Dingle, AIA Joel Donlon, AIA pat gourley Robert C. Kelly, AIA Ken Mitchell, AIA James Oleg Kruhly, FAIA Jay Shermeta, AIA Maureen Ward, AIA
gold medal built
GM
Morse and Ezra Stiles Colleges KieranTimberlake
Morse and Stiles Colleges at Yale University, completed 50 years ago in 1961, were among the last works undertaken by Eero Saarinen before his untimely death at the age of 51. They are the product of his conviction that he could both connect to the legacy of Yale’s 10 earlier colleges and renew that legacy in contemporary terms with the materials and methods of his day. Two sloping courts surrounded by fourstory crescent shaped student housing, each court anchored by a tower, provide the formal references to the residential college tradition. The two new colleges are bifurcated by an elevated walk that frames an extraordinary view to the massive Payne Whitney gymnasium tower, fusing the composition to this important landmark at the western edge of the Yale campus. The poured in place concrete walls, with stone cast into the two towers and perimeter housing, bring the 1960s work forward, simultaneously referencing the historical type and materials and recasting them in terms of present day craft, labor and construction economy. The same effort to renew the past in contemporary terms continues through major spaces of the interior. In the great dining halls of the two colleges, intersecting diagonal concrete trusses provide conceptual and visual continuity with Yale’s collegiate gothic halls, while introducing an altogether new structural form. Morse and Stiles embody the genius and ambivalence often associated with Saarinen. They look both backward and forward, establishing connections to past image and type while assertively renewing and reinvigorating it with innovative form and detail. The interventions at Morse and Stiles are conceived as a continuum between continu-
student life. The objective is to articulate an understanding of memory and legacy but add to them in ways that are alive and growing and do not turn the past into a museum. Assignment to Morse and Stiles has been a disappointment to many incoming freshmen over the past decades. A benchmark study comparing and contrasting Morse and Stiles to Yale’s 10 recently renovated historic colleges suggested three major thrusts to our renewal initiatives: additional student life and activity space to draw Morse and Stiles into parity with their residential college peers; reconfiguration of the prevailing courtyard hardscapes into a sustainable landscape dominated by water and greenery; and transformation of the student housing mix from stand alone single rooms to suites. ity and change, not as a freezing of time but rather as management of time as a central act of design. The firm’s work renewing and adding to these residential colleges seeks to extend the architectural dialogue across generations beyond the original 1930s colleges and Saarinen’s 1961 structures to the present day. Just as Saarinen sought to renovate the residential college ideal of the generation before him, the firm seeks to engage Saarinen in a conversation of renewal and transformation based upon contemporary
Owner/Developer: Yale University Structural Engineer: CVM Structural Engineering Electrical Engineer: AltieriSeborWieber Mechanical Engineer: AltieriSeborWieber Environmental Consultant: Atelier Ten Landscape Architect: OLIN General Contractor: Turner Construction Company Photography: Peter Aaron/OTTO, Richard Barnes Photography yearbook | 2011 | 7
SM
silver medal built
Dilworth Plaza
KieranTimberlake
Dilworth Plaza was built in the mid-1970s as part of an urban renewal project that annexed property to the west of Philadelphia’s City Hall. Dedicated in 1977 and named for for¬mer Mayor Richardson Dilworth, the present design includes a large sunken plaza to the north and a spiral staircase that interrupts the pedestrian axis of Market Street as it passes through City Hall. A series of walls, stairs, barriers and overgrown trees limits access and blocks the visibility of City Hall. Though surrounded by office buildings, hotels and new residential condominiums, the barren, hard surfaces of the existing plaza
are seldom used as a gathering space. Furthermore, the plaza’s poor design has led to maintenance problems and unsafe conditions. The renovation of Dilworth Plaza, scheduled for completion in spring 2014, transforms it into a welcoming and accessible public gathering place and an attractive link to the com¬mercial and arts districts neighboring City Hall and a vibrant green amenity for thousands of downtown residents. With the expanded Pennsylvania Convention Center's new front door to the north, the plaza will serve as a visitor destination and a link
to South Broad Street’s Avenue of the Arts and to the restaurants and shops that line Walnut and Chestnut Streets. From chairs outside the new café on the northwest corner of City Hall, visitors, commuters and residents will enjoy the mile long view up the Benjamin Franklin Parkway to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. In the new scheme, the multiple levels, walls, barriers, stairs and changing elevations are eliminated, and one level surface is created for the entire plaza, on grade with City Hall. The approach to the plaza is made accessible and more pedestrian-friendly with curb bulb-outs that narrow the roadway and permit pedestrian crossing from all corners at Market and 15th Streets. Paving gently rises from the perimeter walkways toward the center of the site, where a shallow 3/8-inch deep fountain and sloping lawn panel create a central gathering space. Owner/Developer: Center City District Structural Engineer: CVM Engineers Electrical Engineer: Marvin Waxman Engineers Mechanical Engineer: Marvin Waxman Engineers Civil Engineer: Urban Engineers Food Service Consultant: Ricca Newmark Design Landscape Architect: OLIN Glass Engineer: Dewhurst Macfarlane and Partners
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honor award built
HA
Brockman Hall for Physics KieranTimberlake
Brockman Hall for Physics at Rice University is the new home for dozens of experimental, theoretical and applied physicists who were formerly scattered in as many as five buildings across campus. Brockman Hall supports a wide range of research from Rice's departments of Physics and Astronomy and of Electrical and Computer Engineering, including atomic, molecular and optical physics; biophysics; condensed matter physics; nanoengineering and photonics. A recipient of $11.1 million in federal stimulus funding from the National Institute of Standards and Technology, it was completed in a compressed design and construc-
tion schedule of just 33 months, an extremely short timeline for a facility of its kind. To successfully fit 110,000 square feet of program into the constrained site, the building is split into two parallel bars connected by glass-enclosed bridges with an open passage that admits natural light and outdoor breezes. The most sen¬sitive laboratories are located below grade, stabilized by an extremely robust structure. One of the bars is elevated to pre¬serve a significant portion of the existing Quad, and a series of gathering spaces beneath it extends the building program outdoors. The raised bar has an asymmetrically vaulted ceiling, to float it above the
ground plane, suspended by board-formed concrete columns. A pathway between the two bars is placed intently to enhance circulation between buildings on the Quad, extending the landscape-to-building-to-landscape connec¬tions. The green roof provides insulation and water manage¬ment for the building above the lower level laboratories. The two bars are uniquely arranged to knit the building into the landscape, resulting in eight transparent facades. Each facade is tuned to its solar conditions and adjacency to other build¬ings, minimizing the building’s volume and allowing abundant natural light to enter the building. The north facade is a glass curtain wall with a Penrose frit pattern to hint at the activities going on inside. The south facade is a horizontal terra-cotta screen over aluminum composite panels that protect the labs from solar exposure while regulating natural light and privacy. The first story of the south bar is wrapped in glass bricks for transparency and an ambient glow when lit. Clay brick banding between the glass brick relates to the historic banded brick facades elsewhere on campus. Owner/Developer: Rice University Structural Engineer: Haynes Whaley Associates Electrical Engineer: CCRD Partners Mechanical Engineer: CCRD Partners Lab Consultant: Innovate Lab Systems Design Landscape Architect: The Office of James Burnett Construction Administration Consulting Architect: Jackson & Ryan Architects General Contractor: Gilbane Building Company Photography: Peter Aaron/OTTO, Michael Moran Photography
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HA
divine detail
honor award built
DD
Sidwell Friends School Meeting House KieranTimberlake
This project is one part of a series of undertakings envisioned a decade ago in our campus master plan for the Sidwell Friends School, a Quaker K-12 day school. Underlying the master plan were three principles: transformation of an aging collection of unrelated buildings into a welcoming and unified campus, environmental transformation of the entire institution into a leading edge yearbook | 2011 | 10
international model for sustainable design, and optimization of land use within the tight boundaries of an urban campus. The master plan identified Kenworthy Gymnasium, a nondescript 1950s building at the center of campus, for renovation into an Arts Center. In addition to its athletic use, the gym was home to the school’s weekly meetings for worship. While the master plan identified a site for a new Meeting House, preservation concerns and zoning and cost issues led to the strategy of adding the Meeting House to the Arts Center building program. The Meeting House design is guided by a simple diagram that places the spatial qualities of silence and light at its core, and arranges architecture, landscape, structure and systems into successive concentric layers around it. The meeting, defined by silence and light, becomes the magnet that draws all about it into its sphere, providing form, order and meaning where none existed. The meeting room itself is a square space within
the volume of the former gym. Reclaimed white oak used for the floor and lining the lower wall gives the space warmth, intimacy, and age. The oak liner is left unfinished to patina over time. Suspended plaster walls screen the clerestory windows of the former gym, admitting light mysteriously from above that washes across the oak lining. White, overlapping ceiling panels rotate around a central skylight, forming a void at the center of the room and admitting light from an unseen source. Owner/Developer: Sidwell Friends School Structural Engineer: CVM Engineers Electrical Engineer: Bruce E. Brooks and Associates Mechanical Engineer: Bruce E. Brooks and Associates Lighting Consultant: Arup Lighting General Contractor: Whiting Turner Contracting Company Photography: Michael Moran Photography
honor award built
HA
Locust Street Addition Rasmussen/Su
Constrained to a 9.5-foot sliver of a site, this addition was designed to bridge between a historical 19th-century rowhome and a vibrant community garden located in the heart of Philadelphia's Washington Square West neighborhood. The composition of the Corten steel panel facade recalls the openings in the original masonry structure, while the lasercut pattern of interconnected ginkgo leaves (adapted from a traditional Japanese paper carving) references the organic shapes of the neighboring garden. Although its scale, composition, and materials are compatible with the existing structure, the addition is overall a highly differentiated volume. The intent was to leave the original structure as intact as possible and make the addition clearly read as a 21stcentury intervention.
View B
Owner/Developer: Gibbs Connors Structural Engineer: Popoli Engineering Additional Consultant, Steel Fabrication: Bill Curran Design General Contractor: Hanson General Contracting Photography: Jeffrey Totaro Photographer yearbook | 2011 | 11
MA
merit award built
Avalon Residence
Brett Webber Architects
This oceanfront site in Avalon, NJ, overlooks a spectacular expanse of protected high dunes along the Atlantic Ocean. The one acre site was occupied by a 1970s twostory structure and attached garage and was generally paved with beach gravel and limited non-indigenous plantings. It was established early on that the existing house was to be retained in the interest of both limiting project construction scope but also to facilitate ongoing occupancy. New entry, deck additions and other exterior modifications were to weave new life and function into the existing 70s shell while a completely reconstructed garage would serve as the centerpiece of new flexible space. Landscape would be developed to extend the influence of indigenous species from the nearby vegetated dunes and wildlife sanctuary and effectively extend the dune to the street fully encompassing the entire lot. A new pool addition was to be developed seamlessly into this landscape. The design solution preserves the structure of the existing house and expands it yearbook | 2011 | 12
slightly to accommodate a new central entry, reconstructed garage / gym, new wrap around decks and accessory service and storage structures. The new garage / gymnasium structure presents the new identity of the house to the street and draws a line of stained cedar cladding along its eastern flank to identify the main entry pathway. An open steel and wood framed pergola extends over an entry walk comprised of precast concrete and Pennsylvania Bluestone pavers. An entirely opaque faรงade for the garage is established for privacy while the southern faรงade features a completely operable window wall which opens to provide for equal indoor and outdoor space with a connecting wood deck. Owner/Developer: Private Structural Engineer: LarsenLandis Landscape Architect: Think Green General Contractor: McCoubrey Overholser Building Construction Photographer: David Whipple
merit award built
MA
Roberts Pavillion EwingCole
defines by relocating the service entrance and an aging garage away from the visible corner of Martin Luther King Boulevard and replaced them with a new tower and a new hospital entrance with public functions and transparency. A new gateway park that anchors a new green necklace around the new campus, provides open space for the Camden community.
The year that CNN ranked Camden, NJ, the fourth most dangerous city in the country, was the year that Cooper University Hospital – Camden’s largest institution - embarked on its first major building project in 29 years.To many in the struggling community it was the first sign that the outside world cares to invest in their lives. The goals of the project were three-fold: urban integration, patient / staff health and safety, and market recognition. The Pavilion expands the Hospital campus with 90 new
private beds, an enlarged emergency room, 12 new operating rooms, new Intensive Care Unit, and visitor amenities. The total area of new construction is 297,650 square feet and the total area of renovated space is 79,350 square feet. The new pavilion design and master plan anchor the economically depressed areas furthest from the commercial development of the waterfront and provide a gateway to the majority of the people entering the city. The hospital revitalized the urban intersection it
Owner/Developer: Cooper University Hospital Structural Engineer: EwingCole Electrical Engineer: EwingCole Mechanical Engineer: EwingCole Additional Consultant: Land Dimensions Engineering; Cairone & Kaupp, Inc. Program Manager: Stantec General Contractor: Turner/HSC Photography: Halkin Photography LLC, Eduard Hueber yearbook | 2011 | 13
MA
merit award built
Levitt Pavilion SteelStacks Wallace Roberts & Todd An iconic site in america’s industrial history the Bethlehem Steel Complex closed in 1995. Up until that point the plant operated with little foreign competition, and flourished in times of war. As the major steel supplier in WWI and WWII, Bethlehem Steel shaped the modern American defense industry, producing steel for armor plates, heavy artillery, and large ocean fleets. Concurrently the factory started mass producing wide flange beams, and the “H” beam which began production, paving the way for the flight of the age of skyscrapers. Since the closing of the steel mill, the site has transitioned to SteelStax, a dynamic arts, culture and educational complex focused on a public park. At the center of the site, directly in front of the historic factory, will be the new home of The Levitt
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monumental backdrop for a new civic space located at its base. The power of its tectonic expression inspire the spirit of the new architecture on the site.
Pavilion for the performing arts. The spirit of the place lives on in the gritty textures of the former industrial site. The heaviness in the scale of the machines, superimposed with the lightness and simplicity of a steel structure are in evidence of the ruins still standing on the site. The majesty of the iconic blast furnaces provides a
Owner/Developer: City of Bethlehem Structural Engineer (band shell): Simpson Gumpertz and Heger Structural Engineer (service building): Klein and Hoffman Electrical Engineer: Lehigh Valley Engineering Electrical Engineer: Lehigh Valley Engineering General Contractor: Boyle Construction Photography/Illustrations: Wallace Roberts & Todd
honor award unbuilt
HA
The Granary
ISA - Interface Studio Architects As a major center of industry throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, Philadelphia developed a particularly rich stock of industrial buildings. Scattered throughout the city, the productive industries housed in these buildings came to define their neighborhoods. North Philadelphia was known as a global leader in dye and textiles, the Delaware riverfront was a major regional port and shipbuilding hub, and the city itself was nicknamed the “Workshop of the World.” The city’s infrastructures, particularly railroads and seaports, made the city a global transfer point for manufactured goods and foodstuffs harvested in Pennsylvania and the Midwest. Philadelphia’s granaries supplied other East Coast cities while simultaneously serving the needs of local bakeries and breweries. Although the Granary at 20th Street was not located directly on the waterfront, it was sited adjacent to a sunken railroad connecting the western countryside with the Eastern seaports, and served as a major distribution point for local industries. Although the Granary’s surrounding neighborhood was once a center of industry in Philadelphia, today the structure sits vacant within a dramatically changing landscape. The nearby Benjamin Franklin Parkway is at the heart of this transformation. Developed by the city throughout the 20th century, the diagonal axis was conceived as an institutional armature and tourist destination. Current development projects along the Parkway include a major public library addition and a new home for the Barnes Foundation, a world-renowned collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings. In the next decade, the site has the potential to become part of a unique cluster of highamenity uses and an important threshold linking the Parkway with residential neighborhoods to the north.
Owner/Developer: Pearl Properties Structural Engineer: The Harman Group Mechanical Engineer: InPosse Illustrations: ISA - Interface Studio Architects yearbook | 2011 | 15
PA
preservation award built
Le Meridien Philadelphia Blackney Hayes Architects Designed by noted Philadelphia architect Horace Trumbauer in a Georgian Revival style, the original building was built as a YMCA to serve a youth population in the growing industrial city. Fitness, recreation, library, and auditorium facilities filled most of the lower stories, while the top floors were used for classrooms and small hotel/boarding rooms. The building as it stands today was built in three stages, beginning in 1907-
1909 with an eight-story structure at 1421 Arch Street. A more decorative second wing was added to the west in 1912, and two floors were added to the top of both structures in 1925, all designed by Trumbauer’s office. There are several historically significant interior spaces in the building, including the main lobby and sitting rooms on the first floor, and the original library and auditorium space on the third floor.
The beauty of the original building attracted Le Meridien, a four-star hotel brand with over 120 hotels worldwide. In historic rehabilitations such as this one, Le Meridien strives to accent the beauty of the historic building, while carefully inserting modern elements to contrast and feature that history. A new entrance canopy introduces guests to the hotel, and visually alerts visitors to the restored life of this traditional building. The renovated main lobby of the hotel embodies lounge seating, a breakfast table, and full service bar. Registration and concierge functions are adjacent. A former sitting room is now used for registration and concierge services, with lounge seating for guests around an original fireplace. A first floor sitting room is now a full-service bistrostyle restaurant. Public areas on the first and third floor continue the bold color scheme of black, white and red, with references to Philadelphia landmarks cleverly interspersed.
Owner/Developer: Development Services Group Associate Architect: Stuart G. Rosenberg Architects Structural Engineer: Pennoni Associates Civil Engineer: Stantec Electrical Engineer: DGW Engineers Mechanical Engineer: M. P. Hershman, PE Acoustic Consultant: Metropolitan Acoustics Associate Interior Designer: Forchielli-Glynn Low Voltage Consultant: Michael Raiser Associates Food Service Consultant: Ricca-Newmark General Contractor: DOMUS Lighting Designers: Lighting Design Collaborative Photography: Jeffrey Totaro Photographer, Hugh Loomis Architectural and Industrial Photography yearbook | 2011 | 16
preservation award
PR
Owe'neh Bupingeh Preservation Plan Atkin Olshin Schade Architects
Ohkay Owingeh, “Place of the Strong People”, is one of 19 federally-recognized Pueblo Indian tribes in New Mexico. Known as San Juan from 1598 until 2005, the reservation has a population of about 3,500 people. Owe’neh Bupingeh is the traditional name for the center of the village, which is believed to have been occupied for over 700 years. The Owe’neh Bupingeh Preservation Plan aims to balance the preservation of the plazas with functional renovations of the homes, permitting contemporary life and cultural traditions to comfortably co-exist. No pueblo had previously completed a comprehensive preservation plan. The firm conceived of the project in collaboration with the tribe, and developed a fundraising plan. The project began with a $7,500 grant from the New Mexico State Historic Preservation Office to train six high school students from the tribe in preservation and documentation. This program continued for five summers and has been leveraged into over $5 million dollars of planning and implementation funding, including an ARRA Stimulus grant. Tribal elders were interviewed and their recollections about traditional life on the pla-
zas were integrated into the research and future museum planning. These oral histories build on the work of anthropologists, whose last architectural studies of Ohkay Owingeh were completed in 1920s. The conditions of the dwellings ranged dramatically from ruins, to intact but abandoned structures, to fully equipped contemporary homes. The age of the homes is unknown and irrelevant to the tribe - conceptually, they have always been. Since the construction of HUD homes began on the reservation began in the 1970s, the historic core has slowly depopulated, with fewer than half of the dwellings in daily use. Comparing the maps of building con-
dition and inhabitation, Tribal Council committed to a goal of 100% inhabitation. For this community, vibrant life at the core has become more important than architectural conservation. Construction of the first phase began in the fall of 2010, with a construction budget of $2.2 million. The contractor, a nativeowned enterprise from another pueblo, hired half of her crew from Ohkay Owingeh and substantial training of homeowners is occurring, thus the cultural construction traditions will be preserved in addition to the buildings. Owner/Developer: Ohkay Owingeh Housing Authority Structural Engineer: ABQ Engineering Electrical Engineer: ABQ Engineering Mechanical Engineer: ABQ Engineering Earthen Building Consultant: Crocker & Associates Landscape Architect: Morrow Reardon Wilkinson Miller Landscape Architects General Contractor: Avanyu General Contracting Illustrations: Atkin Olshin Schade Architects yearbook | 2011 | 17
DD
divine detail
Dormer in the Trees
Michael Ryan Architects
The detail exists to serve an idea. Expanding the attic level to be a “penthouse�, the most significant aspect of the surroundings is the tall trees that dwarf the pre-war (WWII) early suburban houses. Windows have two aspects when viewed: outside as a mirror reflecting the tree profiles and sky; inside disappearing, without apparent frames, to reveal the verdant canopy. Jamb, sill, and head are treated in a similar fashion. Owner/Developer: Private General Contractor: McCoubrey/ Overholser Construction Photography: Rich Villa yearbook | 2011 | 18
EX
Sonja Bijelic
Jessica Fogel
exhibitors
ArchSTUDIO2227, Compact Tower
Peter Brown
BAU Architecture
Archer + Buchanan Architecture Ltd., Lewisburg Residence
BAU Architecture, Kensington Avenue Design Guidelines
Warren Jagger
Jeffrey Totaro Photographer
Ballinger, East Campus Research Facility
Bergmann Associates, TD Bank
BLT Architects, The Union League of Philadelphia
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J. Brough Schamp Photography
EX
exhibitors
Buell Kratzer Powell, Bern Schwartz Gymnasium Renovation, Bryn Mawr College
Joseph M. Kitchen Photography LLC
Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, Adaptive Reuse of the 30th Street Main Post Office Building
CICADA Architecture/Planning, Inc., Old Tarble
Chris Cooper Photographer
BWA Architecture + Planning, John R. Post ’60 Academic Center Saint Joseph’s University
Environetics, Kennedy Health Care Addition
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Francis Cauffman, Work Studies Strategy and Pilot Project
EX
Studio AMD
Paul Hester Photography
exhibitors
H2L2, Tyler School of Art, Temple University
Erin Avery
Carlos Alejandro Photograpy
Granum A/I, Novo Nordisk - North American Headquarters
Hooper Shiles Architects, QVC West Entrance
Sam Oberter Photography
Jeffrey Totaro Photographer
Haley Donovan, 145 High Street
JBH3 Architects, Drexel University Enrollment Management Welcome Center
Jibe Design, A Modest Proposal
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Tom Crane
Don Pearse Photography
EX
exhibitors
John Milner Architects, New Country Estate, Villanova
KCBA Architects
Halkin Photography LLC
Hooper Shiles Architects, Shire Conference Center
Kelly/Maiello Architects & Planners, The President's House
Halkin Photography LLC
Halkin Photography LLC
KCBA Architects, Tacony Academy Charter School
KSS Architects, Dorrance H. Hamilton Public Media Commons at WHYY
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MGA Partners, Architects, The Salvation Army Ray and Joan Kroc Community Center
EX
Halkin Photography LLC
exhibitors
PZS Architects, Francis E. Willard School
David Felds
Kirk Gittings Photography
Peter Zimmerman Architects, New House, Southport, CT
SaylorGregg Architects, New Mexico History Museum
PADCNR
Matt Wargo
Sandvold Blanda A+I, Marathon Grill
Schradergroup Architecture, Yorkshire Elementary School - New Facility
SMP Architects, The Nature Inn at Bald Eagle State Park
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Stanev Potts Architects
Halkin Photography LLC
EX
exhibitors
Stantec, North Shore University Hospital, Katz Women’s Hospital
Paul S. Bartholomew Photography
Paul S. Bartholomew Photography
Stanev Potts Architects, Cove House
Paul S. Bartholomew Photography
UCI Architects, Renovation of Richard Humphries Hall, Cheyney University
Voith & Mactavish Architects, Joe's Cafe
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UMJN, Center for Science and Technology, LaSalle University
The Center for Architecture
1218 Arch Street, Philadelphia, PA The Center for Architecture performs the charitable and educational work of the Philadelphia Chapter of the American Institute of Architects and serves as the physical home for the Chapter in Center City Philadelphia. The Center offers programs that encourage public engagement, collaboration, and design excellence in the fields of architecture, urban planning, and design. The Center actively seeks to engage other organizations and governmental agencies in collaborative projects to educate the public on and encourage debate about the built environment. As Philadelphia’s premiere place to share programs about architecture and urban design, the Center encourages collaboration in developing exhibitions, symposiums, and other programs that engage our fellow citizens.
Programs • Ongoing and changing exhibitions • Architecture in Education provides handson workshops for kids and teacher training workshops • Emergence of a Modern Metropolis walking tour explores the social and political forces that shaped Philadelphia’s built environment since the Industrial Revolution • Building Philadelphia and Classical Architecture lecture series led by engaging lecturers from local universities and architecture firms, these series educate the general public about architecture and the development of Philadelphia • Ongoing and changing exhibitions promote awareness of and understanding about the built environment • The Louis I. Kahn Memorial Lecture continues a 20-year lecture series to honor the memory of noted Philadelphia architect Louis I. Kahn • Philadelphia Architecture: A Guide to the City is the essential guide to the built environment in Philadelphia is available in the AIA Bookstore & Design Center
Partner Organizations The following organizations work with the Center on an ongoing basis to increase awareness of and education about our buildings, neighborhoods, and cities: AIA Philadelphia AIA Bookstore & Design Center Community Design Collaborative Charter High School for Architecture and Design Facility Rental The Center’s sleek and modern facilities in the heart of Center City Philadelphia are available to rent for private and public events, classes, receptions, and parties. The Center offers Philadelphia’s greenest public meeting space, with dimmable fluorescent and low-voltage lighting, sustainably salvaged interior finishes, and highly efficient environmental control systems.
Center information www.philadelphiacfa.org; 215.569.3186 hours: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday to Saturday 12 to 5 p.m. Sundays yearbook | 2011 | 25
Louis I. Kahn Memorial Lecture
Presented by the Center for Architecture
On May 5, 2011, Bernard Tschumi, FAIA, presented the 2011 Louis I. Kahn Memorial Lecture, titled Concepts, Percepts, and Affects, at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. Tschumi is widely recognized as one of today’s foremost architects. First known as
a theorist, he drew attention to his innovative architectural practice in 1983 when he won the prestigious competition for the Parc de La Villette. Since then, he has made a reputation for groundbreaking designs that include the new Acropolis Museum; Le Fresnoy National Studio for the Contemporary Arts; the Vacheron-Constantin Headquarters; The Richard E. Lindner Athletics Center at the University of Cincinnati; and architecture schools in Marne-la-Vallée, France and Miami, Florida, among other projects. The office’s versatility extends to infrastructure projects and master plans. Major urban design projects recently executed or in implementation under Tschumi’s leadership include master plans for Mediapolis in Singapore, a new Media Zone in Abu Dhabi , and the Independent Financial Centre of the Americas in the Dominican Republic. yearbook | 2011 | 26
Tschumi was awarded France’s Grand Prix National d’Architecture in 1996 as well as numerous awards from the American Institute of Architects and the National Endowment for the Arts. He is an international fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects in England and a member of the Collège International de Philosophie and the Académie d’Architecture in France, where he has been the recipient of distinguished honors that include the rank of Officer in both the Légion d’Honneur and the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. He is a member of the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Architects. The many books devoted to Tschumi’s writings and architectural practice include the three-part Event-Cities series (MIT Press, 1994, 2000, and 2005); The Manhattan Transcripts (Academy Editions and St. Martin’s Press, 1981 and 1994); Architecture and Disjunction (MIT Press, 1994); and the monograph Tschumi (Universe/Thames and Hudson, English version, and Skira, Italian version, 2003). A series of conversations with the architect has been published by The Monacelli Press under the title Tschumi on Architecture (2006). Recent publications include a French and English language biography on Tschumi by Gilles de Bure and The New Acropolis Museum, published by Skira / Rizzoli.
Sponsor The 2011 Louis I. Kahn Lecture was generously Sponsored by diener Brick Company
Design on the Delaware
Ninth Annual Regional Conference Design on the Delaware is an annual event that convenes design and building professionals, and business and public leaders throughout he Greater Philadelphia region for two days of professional education, crossboundary exploration, social engagement, and networking. Hundreds of professionals attended the 2011 conference and trade show, gaining new perspectives from related fields, a deeper knowledge of their own profession, information from industry suppliers, a view into the public realm, and, most of all, contacts and experiences that will enhance their capabilities. Collaborating organizations: AIA Bucks County AIA Central Pennsylvania AIA Delaware AIA Eastern Pennsylvania AIA New Jersey American Institute of Graphic Arts American Society of Heating, Refrig. and Air Conditioning Engineers American Society of Landscape Architects PA/DE Chapter Associated Builders & Contractors, Inc Community Design Collaborative Construction Management Association of America Delaware Valley Green Building Council Electrical Association of Philadelphia Engineers Club of Philadelphia General Building Contractors Association Illuminating Engineers Society, Philadelphia Chapter Industrial Design Society of America Innovation Philadelphia International Interior Design Association Pennsylvania Planning Association Philadelphia National Organization of Minority Architects Society for Marketing Professional Services Urban Land Institute Philadelphia Chapter
Exhibitors: AIA Bookstore & Design Center Armstrong World Industries, Inc. Belden Tri-State Building Materials Bostik, Inc. C.M. Jones, Inc. CertainTeed Corporation Church Brick Company Compass Ironworks Consolidated Brick Conspectus, Inc. Diener Brick, Co. EDA Contractors, Inc. Fizzano Bros. Concrete Products, Inc. Free Axez, LLC GAI Consultants, Inc. General Building Contractors Association Hearthstone, Inc. IMS Audio Visual Ingersoll Rand Security Technologies J.E. Berkowitz, LP LaSalle Engineering, LLC Laser Tech Floor Plans Loewen/Norwood Lutron Electronics Microdesk Modernfold/Styles Inc. New Holland Church Furniture New Holland Concrete PA Window Store Pella Window & Door Company Prime Design Architectural Millwork S&S Resources Inc. Set-Rite Overhead Doors & Dock Equipment Skanska USA Building, Inc. SSM Group, Inc. Stone Source Techo-Bloc The Harman Group, Inc. Trenwyth Industries Unilock Wissahickon Stone Quarry
Sponsors Microsol Resources Langan Engineering and environmental services O'Donnell and Naccarato Powell Trachtman Logan Carrle & Lombardo, PC IMS AUDIO/VISUAL yearbook | 2011 | 27
Canstruction速
Canstruction速 is a charity design-build competition committed to ending hunger sponsored by the AIA Philadelphia Associate Committee under the auspices of the Society for Design Administration. Locally, the competition benefits Philadbundance, the region's major food bank, which annually provides 22 million pounds of food to those in need in our region. Congratulations to the teams of Architects, Engineers, Contractors and Designers; Philadelphia's annual Canstruction puts a visual spotlight on hunger while showcasing the design community's talent and commitment to our community.
Halkin Photography LLC
Halkin Photography LLC
Sponsored by the Associates Committee
Canstruction Committee: Ariana Dennis, Event Chair Angel M. Davis-Taylor Rob Palladino Andrea Petrucci Cassidy Touhill Ileana LaFontaine Paul Avazier Shira Rosenwald
2011 Canstruction teams Bohlin Cywinski Jackson CRB Environetics KieranTimberlake Lodge No. 2, Free and Accepted Masons of Pennsylvania Penn State Brandywine Philadelphia University Urban Aesthetics, LLC Wallace Roberts & Todd, LLC
Sponsors Halkin Photography LLC
NRI Barry Halkin Photography Jeffrey Totaro Photographer Crown The Shops at Liberty Place yearbook | 2011 | 28
Community Design Collaborative
1216 Arch Street, Philadelphia | cdesignc.org The Community Design Collaborative is a community design center that provides pro bono preliminary design services to nonprofit organizations in greater Philadelphia, offers unique volunteer opportunities for design professionals, and raises awareness about the importance of design in community revitalization. Founded in 1991 as a program of AIA Philadelphia, the Collaborative is an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization with a network of more than 1,000 volunteers. The Collaborative is an ambassador for the architectural profession in the larger community, strengthening neighborhoods through design. We bring design professionals, nonprofits, and community leaders together to collaborate in new ways. Our design services and initiatives demonstrate the role of design in improving community wellbeing, quality of life, and economic vitality. Between 2001 and 2011 alone, over 800 design professionals invested more than 50,000 hours of their time and expertise on nearly 250 projects. These pro bono preliminary design services resulted in funding, contracts with design consultants, and construction in one of four Collaborative projects. The Collaborative relies on a diverse mix of funding to maintain its programs, includingindividual and corporate gifts. Your support will help us continue to meet the needs of neighborhoods, provide inspiring opportunities for design professionals, and engage the public in creative problem-solving. All gifts are tax-deductible.
ABOVE: The Collaborative marked its 20th anniversary in 2011 with a book and special programming that included an anniversary kickoff “family reunion�, design charrettes and the Design in Action 2011 conference.
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Charter High School for Architecture and Design Grades 9 through 12
Curious students … engaged faculty … and a compelling mission: The Charter High School for Architecture + Design is a learning community committed to providing an innovative program of study that integrates the design process with the mastery of a strong liberal arts education. The school offers each student the opportunity for success and the preparation for life-long learning and responsible citizenship. CHAD is a thoughtful academic environment that engenders a love of learning, intellectual curiosity, and new ways of seeing, while preparing students for higher education. Want to learn more about our fascinating school? Please visit www.chadphila.org or call 215.351.2900 for more information or a tour. Peter J. Kountz, Ph.D., Head of School Ethan Bell, Director of Admissions and Enrollment Michael Connor, Director of Operations and Technology Donna Costello, Principal Miguel Vazquez, Director of College Placement Courtnay Tyus, Executive Director Development and Institutional Advancement The Charter High School for Architecture + Design was founded in 1999 by the American Institute of Architects’ Philadelphia Chapter as the Legacy Project for the AIA National Convention held in Philadelphia in May 2000. 105 South 7th Street Philadelphia, PA 19106
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BUILDING ON 300 YEARS... by Christina Long Illustrations, Simon Tickell, AIA
Representing the interests of Philadelphia architects for nearly 140 years, AIA Philadelphia pays tribute to the distinguished architectural history in our city that started more than 300 years ago. An expansive outdoor museum, the city’s architecture represents some of the finest examples of nearly every period and style in America. The following are a few highlights in the rich history of our city and Chapter. 1682-1701 William Penn and his surveyor Thomas Holme were visionary city planners. Although it took
several decades for the city to grow into their plan, we have them to thank for our downtown streets laid out in a grid system with strategically located public squares. The early settlers along the Delaware River promptly ignored Penn’s 1682 plan for a “greene Country Towne” full of large lots for gentleman’s estates. Instead, most colonists chose to build rows of narrow two-story brick houses along congested streets. Little did they realize they were establishing the predominant pattern of housing in the area for centuries to come. Gloria Dei Church or Old Swedes’, built in 1698-1700 by carpenters John Smart and
William Strickland 1788-1854
Horace Trumbauer 1868-1938
Thomas U. Walter 1804-1887
Wilson Eyre 1858-1944
Frank Furness 1839-1912
Paul Philippe Cret 1876-1945
John Buett in the standard English style of the time, is one of the few buildings left standing as a reminder of those early days. 1701-1783 William Penn had high expectations for his outpost, and in 1701 issued a charter that raised Philadelphia’s status to a “city.” Indeed, throughout the century Philadelphia grew both in population and importance in the colonies. Life continued to revolve around the dozens of wharves along the Delaware River. Most construction and design was done by master builders, many of whom belonged to the Carpenter’s Company. Formed in 1724, the Company not only established prices, but set rules for the styles and building techniques its members were to use. Most of the colonists lived in simple two- or threestory brick houses nearby, like those found on Elfreth’s Alley in Old City (site of some of the city’s oldest houses, some dating back to 1724). Georgian homes for the wealthy, churches and civic buildings sprung up all over the city. Decor on colonial building exteriors in Philadelphia tended to be muted due to the strong Quaker preference for simplicity. Georgian examples abound, including Christ Church near Second and Market Streets and Benjamin Chew’s Cliveden in Germantown. Independence Hall, designed by lawyer Andrew Hamilton and master carpenter Edmund Wooley to be Pennsylvania’s State House, is exemplary of the buildings of the time. 1783-1800 After the American Revolution, the city took on the role of the nation’s capital for ten years beginning in 1790, and its citizens turned toward refurbishing buildings ravaged by war. Federal buildings employed the same red brick as Georgian structures, but they are more elegant and finely detailed. Windows are narrower and defined by slender mullions. This style was used to build town houses, country estates along the Schuylkill and some civic buildings. It is magnificently represented in the Central Pavilion of Pennsylvania Hospital, which was designed in 1794 by master builder Samuel Rhoads, a Philadelphia-born Quaker. yearbook | 2011 | 31
under Strickland and was a founding member of the American Institute of Architects when it was formed in New York in 1857.)
Elfreth’s Alley is the Nation’s Oldest Residential Street.
1800-1830 Architect, engineer and humanist Benjamin Henry Latrobe is considered to be the first professional architect in America. (This is a controversial title among proponents of master builder/architects such as fellow Philadelphian Robert Smith, who built the Christ Church steeple, and gentlemen amateurs such as Thomas Jefferson.) When the English-born Latrobe moved to this city, Philadelphia was the new nation’s undisputed cultural and architectural capital. It was Latrobe’s appointment as architect of the Bank of Pennsylvania (1798-1801, demolished c. 1870) that brought him here. His design for this bank is credited as the first major American example of the Greek Revival. Later, the Greek Revival was chosen for a number of banks and other important public buildings in the city, including the Merchant’s Exchange and the Second Bank of the United States, both by William Strickland, who apprenticed under Latrobe. Other examples are: the Fairmount Waterworks by Frederick Graff; Pennsylvania Institution for the Deaf and Dumb — now University of the Arts — by John Haviland; the Ridgway Library by Addison Hutton; and Girard College by Thomas Ustick Walter. (Walter apprenticed yearbook | 2011 | 32
1830-1900 Scottish-born architect John Notman introduced a succession of English architectural influences to Philadelphia and this country, including the Italianate villa he designed in Burlington, NJ. Notman designed the first Renaissance Revival building in America, the Philadelphia Athenaeum on Washington Square. He was also an important source for the Gothic Revival, the finest example of which is his Saint Mark’s Church in Philadelphia. Partly in response to the need for a centralized government and professional fire and police services, the city consolidated in 1854. It was just the power base needed for Philadelphia to become the nation’s leading industrial city. There were no greater symbols of the prosperity and contemporary grandeur at the end of the century than the structures being built on Center Square. William Penn’s Quaker sensibilities would have been shaken by the grand scale and ornateness of City Hall and the Broad Street Station. Designed by John McArthur, Jr., from 1871 to 1901, with Thomas Ustick Walter consulting, City Hall is considered America’s finest Second Empire public building. It’s lavishly decorated with 250 sculptures by Alexander Milne Calder, and topped with Calder’s 27-ton cast-iron statue of William Penn. The Pennsylvania Railroad’s Broad Street Station train shed was an engineering marvel designed by The Wilson Brothers. Its threehinged, wrought-iron arched shed (no longer standing) was considerably larger than Reading Terminal’s train shed. Reading Terminal, also one of Joseph and John Wilson’s designs, now boasts the country’s only remaining single-span arched shed, which in 1993 was converted into a ballroom and gathering place for the Pennsylvania Convention Center. The mid-19th century also saw the creation of the AIA’s Philadelphia Chapter, organized November 11, 1869, by John McArthur, Jr., John Fraser, Frank Furness, George W. Hewitt and Henry Sims. It’s the
nation’s second-oldest AIA Chapter, following New York City’s Chapter, begun in 1867. Thomas U. Walter was the Philadelphia Chapter’s president from 1870 to 1877, and went on to be the AIA’s national president from 1877 to 1887. As the nation’s Centennial grew near, architect Frank Furness began boldly combining High Victorian Gothic sensibilities with references to the coming modern industrial age. One of the best surviving examples of his exuberant work is the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts at Broad and Cherry Streets. Combining a number of references in the facade, from the French-inspired mansard roof to the English Gothic pointed arches, the Academy is a rollicking celebration of form, color, ornament and texture. Another example of the “creative eclecticism” tradition is the University Museum at 33rd and Spruce Streets, with a rotunda dominating its otherwise horizontal terra-cotta tile roof, Japanese gates, and Alexander Milne Calder statues supporting the arched main entrance. Portions of the museum were designed by Wilson Eyre, Cope & Stewardson, and Frank Miles Day & Brother, with a later expansion by Mitchell/Giurgola Associates (1969-71). In the 19th century, Philadelphia’s reputation as “a city of homes” was reinforced as new blocks of brick row houses sprang up. High Victorian Gothic residences in the mid-1800s, such as Furness’s Knowlton mansion in Northeast Philadelphia, tended to resemble churches. The Queen Anne Revival houses of the 1880s and 1890s, which borrowed from colonial and medieval sources, were more delicate in scale. The Clarence Moore House at 1321 Locust Street is among several Center City homes which Wilson Eyre designed in the picturesque Queen Anne style with Gothic arched openings, a Venetian top floor loggia, and a French chateau-style tower. As his practice evolved, his fondness for the Shingle Style led him to simple yet sophisticated forms. He also was a founder, with Frank Miles Day, of House and Garden magazine and was its editor from 1901 to 1905.
30th Street Station was renovated in the early 1990s.
1900-1950 As steel construction and elevators made possible buildings of a much larger scale, architects in New York and Chicago were competing to design the biggest and boldest new skyscrapers. In traditional Philadelphia, the first modern buildings were not only lower, but less daring. The 16-story Land Title Building, designed by Chicago architect Daniel Burnham and built in 1897, is considered the city’s best example of an early skyscraper and was based on the ideals of the City Beautiful Movement. D.B. Burnham and Co. went on to design John Wanamaker’s Department Store in a similar style, with the addition of a spectacular interior central court that rises five floors. In 1903, Paul Philippe Crét, a teacher at L’École des Beaux-Arts, came to Philadelphia to establish an École system at the University of Pennsylvania. While revolutionizing Penn’s architecture program, he designed the Delaware River (Benjamin Franklin) Bridge and the Federal Reserve Bank at 10th and Chestnut Streets. As a proponent of the City Beautiful Movement, Crét redesigned Rittenhouse Square and prepared the original plan for the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. Julian Abele, Horace Trumbauer’s chief designer, is credited with initiating the Neoclassical Revival concept for some of the
Parkway’s monumental buildings, including the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Free Library of Philadelphia. Abele was the first African-American graduate of Penn’s architecture department. A group of architectural firms came together to design the Architects Building, an Art Deco office tower at 17th and Sansom Streets, as “a center for the architectural profession and the building industry of Philadelphia” in 1929. The Philadelphia Chapter moved into the 24th floor the next year. Among the building’s 20 firms involved were Paul Crét, Zantzinger•Borie & Medary, John F. Harbeson, and Robert Rodes McGoodwin. At the same time a majestic neoclassical 30th Street Station was being built on the Schuylkill, a new breed of building was rising at 12th and Market Streets. Philadelphia architect George Howe joined with Swiss architect William Lescaze in 1930-32 to design the Philadelphia Saving Fund Society headquarters, which combined ingredients from Burnham’s Chicago School with Europe’s nascent International Style. The PSFS headquarters is the most outstanding example of Modern architecture in Philadelphia. It is also exceptional for its response to its function and for the quality of its craftsmanship, despite its completion at the height of the Depression. Howe
brought the International Style to America with a sense of its possibilities for richness, despite its austerity. That he achieved this in conservative Philadelphia was astounding. 1950s and ’60s In 1947, the Philadelphia City Planning Commission organized an exhibit at Gimbel’s department store which showed plans and hopes for a new Philadelphia. A room-size model of Center City was designed by Edmund Bacon, EFAIA (who later became the Commission’s executive director from 1949 to 1970). The exhibition was well attended and apparently caught the public’s imagination. The Commission later unveiled its written master plan for
The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, designed by Frank Furness and George W. Hewitt, opened in 1876.
The PSFS Building was converted to the Loews Philadelphia Hotel in 2000.
Center City at the AIA’s 1961 national convention, held here in Philadelphia. A remarkable proportion of the proposals eventually were realized, such as the development of Penn’s Landing, the Chestnut Street Transitway, and the Gallery at Market East (designed by Bower and Fradley/Bower Lewis Thrower and Cope Linder Associates). The plan also added momentum to the completion of Independence National Historical Park and restoration of the residential neighborhood of Society Hill. The Penn Center office building complex, another result of these plans, rose on the site of the former “Chinese Wall.” (Until its demolition in 1954, the “wall” supported train tracks to
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the Broad Street Station.) Penn Center’s initial stages were designed by Emery Roth & Sons of New York and Philadelphia architect Vincent Kling. Although many of Bacon’s original concepts for Penn Center were modified by compromises, the results still demonstrated how transportation and retail facilities could be combined in urban centers in an exciting way. Architectural innovation was brewing in Philadelphia once again. Architect Louis I. Kahn was trained in the Beaux-Arts tradition under Paul Crét at Penn in the 1920s. Through the lean years of the Depression, Kahn began a personal search that eventually led to creating an architecture that was at once ancient and contemporary. The Richards Medical Laboratory on the University of Pennsylvania campus is con-
The Girard Trust Company building on Broad Street opened in 2000 as the Ritz-Carlton Hotel.
sidered the first unified expression of Kahn’s concepts. The Museum of Modern Art cited the lab as “probably the most consequential building constructed in the United States since the war.” Kahn’s use of brick and concrete, elaborate structural solutions and natural light contrasted dramatically to the prevailing Modernism. Kahn’s search for new forms and meaning in architecture helped to pave the way for Robert Venturi. Venturi, with the 1966 publication of Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture and several yearbook | 2011 | 34
other influential books brought the study of history and style to the forefront of architectural debate again. The Vanna Venturi House in Chestnut Hill sent shock waves through the international architectural community with its inventive juxtaposition of historical and popular references. Kahn and Venturi weren’t the only Philadelphia firms to gain national prominence for local projects in the 1960s. Mitchell/Giurgola Associates, in their United Fund Headquarters on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, pioneered the development of contemporary office buildings with walls that lacked uniformity. Each side of the United Fund building responds to the unique lighting, elevation and other environmental conditions that it faces. And Geddes Brecher Qualls Cunningham designed the circular Police Administration Building (the “Roundhouse”) which employed one of the first pre-cast concrete structural systems. As architects prospered in the 1960s, AIA Philadelphia also grew and decided to hire its first executive director, William Chapman, in 1964. That same year, the Chapter also began publishing a newsletter named the Bulletin. 1970s to the present In the 1970s, the architecture departments at Drexel and Temple universities were accredited by the National Architectural Accrediting Board. Together with Penn’s program, these schools reinforced Philadelphia’s prominence as the region’s architectural training ground. For America’s Bicentennial in 1976, the AIA brought its national convention to Philadelphia again, 15 years after the last AIA national convention here. The Chapter opened its AIA Bookstore to coincide with these events. It remains one of the few fullservice bookstores run by an AIA Chapter in the U.S. The Philadelphia Architects Charitable Trust, formed by AIA Philadelphia in the 1960s, evolved to become the Foundation for Architecture in 1980. The Foundation took on the role of public education and advocacy. Leslie Gallery, FAIA, the Chapter’s executive director at the time, became the Foundation’s director as well. In 1983, the
Foundation moved to a separate office. A year later, the group published Philadelphia Architecture: A Guide to the City, the definitive reference book on the city’s built environment. (It was revised and released again in November 1994.) The Foundation was best known for its architectural tours of the city and suburbs and its annual fundraising event, the Beaux Arts Ball, the largest party of its kind in the
The Centennial Bank designed by Frank Furness was recently transformed into Drexel University’s Paul Peck Alumni Center.
nation. Sadly, the Foundation closed its doors in late 2001. In 1987, the “gentleman’s agreement” not to build higher than William Penn’s statue atop City Hall was broken by One Liberty Place, a 60-story blue glass skyscraper with apparent references to Manhattan’s Chrysler Building, designed by Chicago architect Helmut Jahn. Following Liberty Place’s example, several more skyscrapers topped with distinctive crowns and imaginative lighting transformed western Center City’s skyline. Among these is Bell Atlantic Tower, a handsome red granite high-rise with a ziggurat cap, designed by The KlingLindquist Partnership. In eastern Center
City, redevelopment continued with the opening of the Convention Center Marriott by Bower Lewis Thrower Architects and the Criminal Justice Center by Vitetta Group. The ’80s building boom gave rise to new concerns about urban planning. In 1988, the City Planning Commission, under the direction of Barbara Kaplan, released The Plan for Center City. Written by the Commission, which consulted with Robert Geddes, FAIA, and Robert Brown, FAIA, the plan attempts to define where growth can be accommodated while preserving the city’s sense of history and smallscale streets and buildings. In addition to delineating development districts, such as the area around the Pennsylvania Convention Center, the Avenue of the Arts, and Center City East, the plan made specific suggestions about improving downtown. Many already have been enacted, including revised zoning codes about the use of public space, new vendor ordinances, improved signs, and City Hall’s restoration. In 1990, the Chapter hosted a Regional/Urban Design Assistance Team, a group of experts who analyzed the area for several blocks around SEPTA’s North Broad train station. Out of that effort grew the Chapter’s Community Design Collaborative, which now boasts 200 professionals volunteering their time on numerous community design projects. Philadelphia architects have blazed new trails even in recent years. In 1993, Chapter member Susan Maxman, FAIA, became AIA National’s first female president, and Emanuel Kelly, AIA, became AIA Philadelphia’s first African-American president that year. City planners and many others turned their attention in the 1990s to the design of several transforming projects. A 1993 study by the City Planning Commission, Destination Philadelphia, sought to define strategies to improve the physical environment and palette of attractions in areas near the new Pennsylvania Convention Center. The plan’s centerpiece is the creation of high-profile, pedestrian-oriented, highly “imagible” visitor districts focused on historical attractions and cultural events. Key components included a new Regional PHILADELPHIA
Performing Arts Center, and a new Master Plan for Independence Mall, as well as a new streetscape for the Avenue of the Arts designed by Kise Franks & Straw. Another success included a reuse plan that created new opportunities for industry on the 1,400-acre site of the former Navy Yard. As the old is blended with the new in the cityscape, there have been a number of superb restorations of some landmark buildings, including the Reading Terminal Train Shed and the Academy of Music, both designed by Vitetta. Other important restorations in the 1990s include the Wanamaker Building, Curtis Publishing Building and Lit Brothers’ department store. Dan Peter Kopple & Associates completed the restoration of 30th Street Station, and Venturi, Scott Brown restored the widely acclaimed University of Pennsylvania’s Fine Arts Library, originally designed by Frank Furness in 1888. Bower Lewis Thrower Architects and Cope Linder converted the first three floors of the Reading Terminal Head House into a ceremonial entrance for the Pennsylvania Convention Center and a hub for the Market East Station and the new Marriott Hotel. At the turn of the new century in 2000, AIA Philadelphia hosted the AIA National Convention with a spectacular line-up of programs, parties, and tours. The event also generated an astounding amount of press exposure focused on architects and architecture. Also that year, the landmark PSFS Building was converted into the Loews Philadelphia luxury hotel by Bower Lewis Thrower with interior design by Daroff Design Inc. & DDI Architects, PC. The Girard Trust Company building on Broad Street opened in the summer of 2000 as a worldclass Ritz-Carlton Hotel after a renovation by The Hillier Group Architects. And the 1876 Centennial Bank by Frank Furness was restored, added to and transformed into the Paul Peck Alumni Center for Drexel University by Voith & Mactavish Architects. The end of 2001 brought the longawaited opening of the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts on Broad Street with its spectacular glass vault roof, designed by New York architect Rafael Viñoly. The end of 2001 also saw the beginning of the revi-
The new Liberty Bell Center was opened in October 2003 as part of the massive Independence Mall revitalization project.
talization of Independence Mall with the opening of the Independence Visitor Center by Kallmann McKinnell & Wood Architects of Boston. In 2003, the other pieces of the massive Independence Mall project were completed, including a new mall design by the Olin Partnership, the new Liberty Bell Center by Bohlin Cywinski Jackson and a new National Constitution Center by Pei Cobb and Freed Architects. Veteran’s Stadium in South Philadelphia was imploded in early-2004 to make way for parking space for two new nearby stadiums. The Philadelphia Eagles started their 2003 season in Lincoln Financial Field, designed by NBBJ Sports and Entertainment of Marina Del Rey, CA, with Philadelphia’s Agoos/Lovera Architects serving as associate architects. Philadelphia firm EwingCole served as lead architects, engineers, interior designers and planners for the new Citizens Bank Park baseball stadium which opened in April 2004. In 2005, construction was completed on the Cira Centre, designed by Cesar Pelli, next to 30th Street Station. The 58-story Comcast Center opened in 2008 and ranks as the 15th tallest building in the United States. Today, AIA Philadelphia boasts nearly 1,700 architects and related professionals as members and is one of the most active AIA Chapters in the nation. Sam Olshin, AIA; Harris Steinberg, FAIA; Thomas Kennedy, city planner; and Evelyn Hess contributed research to this article. yearbook | 2011 | 35
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