AIA Philadelphia Yearbook
2012 Awards for Design Excellence
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Foreword
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2012 Awards for Design Excellence
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Gold 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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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 2012 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: Bohlin Cywinski Jackson's G. Wayne Clough Undergraduate Learning Center. Photo courtesy: Paul Warchol
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2012 Awards for Design Excellence At the 2012 Awards for Design Excellence, held October 10, 2012, at the Loews Philadelphia Hotel, 16 architectural projects received awards. The Gold Medal was presented to KieranTimberlake for the Edgar N. Putnam Event Pavilion at the James A. Michener Art Museum. In addition, the following awards were given by AIA Philadelphia for individual achievement: John Harbeson Award, for lifetime achievement: Hyman Myers, FAIA AIA Philadelphia Young Architects Award: Jules Dingle and Danielle DiLeo Kim The Philadelphia Emerging Architecture Prize: Austin + Mergold Design Awards Jury: Marlon Blackwell, FAIA Marlon Blackwell Architect Rand Elliott, FAIA Elliot + Associates Jennifer Herron, AIA Herron-Horton Architects Reese Rowland Polk Stanley Wilcox Architects Andrew Wells, AIA Dake Wells Architecture
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Platinum Sponsor CVM Construction
Gold Sponsors Gallagher Benefit Services Powell Trachtman Logan Carrle & Lombardo, PC
Silver Sponsor O’Donnell & Naccarato
Bronze Sponsors Intech construction Langan Engineering and Environmental Services McDonald Building Company
Copper Sponsors domus GAI Consultants illuminations, INC. KEAST & HOOD Co. W.S. Cumby
Design Committee Joshua C. Otto, AIA, Co-chairman Lonny Rossman, AIA , Co-Chairman Megan J. Delevan, AIA Jules Dingle, AIA Joel M. Donlon, AIA James Oleg Kruhly, AIA Kenneth D. Mitchell, AIA Richard C. Rosenbaum Benjamin J. Shermeta, AIA Maureen A. Ward, AIA
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Edgar N. Putnam Event Pavilion, James A. Michener Art Museum KieranTimberlake
The Edgar N. Putman Pavilion is a 3,400 square foot addition to the James A. Michener Art Museum in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1989, the museum occupies the site of the former Bucks County Prison, built in 1884 and designed by Addison Hutton. Although much of the prison was torn down in 1986, remnants of the old stone building are incorporated into the museum, including three massive fieldstone prison walls. The Pavilion demonstrates an ambitious use of structural glass panels, allowing seamless views to and from the interior of the museum toward the former prison walls surrounding the Patricia D. Pfundt Sculpture Garden. The location for the Event Pavilion preserves the existing terrace and allows for passage through the museum’s Sculpture Garden. Each wall panel consists of five layers of glass, measuring 5’ 6.5” x 23’, 2.75” thick, and weighing approximately 3,350 pounds, exceeding United States standards of glass production in terms of size and weight. Supplied by Roschmann Group in Gersthofen, Germany, they are among the largest selfsupporting insulated glass units worldwide, and potentially the largest in the United States. A highly specialized, custom designed
suction device developed by Roschmann was used by the contractors to lift the glass into place. The Pavilion creates two terraces to the east and west of the Sculpture Garden, accessed through pivoting doors. In order to create a more dramatic entrance sequence, the entire garden platform was raised 18” to eliminate the need for ramps or stairs leading to the new building, and is paved with a combination of concrete, river rocks, and recycled limestone. The Pavilion allows multiple museum programs to function simultaneously and creates a powerful architectural statement that adds significantly to the museum’s physical identity.
Owner/Developer: James A. Michener Art Museum Structural Engineer: CVM Engineers Electrical Engineer: Bruce Brooks & Associates Mechanical Engineer: Bruce Brooks & Associates Civil Engineer: Caroll Engineering Corp. Lighting Consultant: Sean O'Connor Lighting Landscape Architect: OLIN A/V & Acoustics Consultant: Metropolitan Acoustics Curtain Wall Consultant: Dewhurst MacFarlane General Contractor: Adams-Bickel Associates, Inc. Photography: Michael Moran/OTTO
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honor award built, divine detail
Colombiere Jesuit Community Residence Bohlin Cywinski Jackson
As with most works of architecture, circumstances of site and program play a significant role in the design process, particularly so in the design of Colombiere Residence and Chapel. The firm’s challenge was to create intelligently crafted spaces suitable to house day to day activities of the Jesuit priests and brothers who were to live there, along with a chapel that would serve as a vessel to transport these men of prayer to a place where God could be found. Faced with this undertaking, the firm understood the critical need to respect the traditions and rituals of the Catholic faith and those of the Jesuit order, while avoiding a conventional or familiar construction vocabulary tied to past architectural styles. We set out to make a silent place of meditation and prayer using a simple palette of stone and wood enlivened through the interplay of light, space, and matter. To achieve the objective, the light would have to be of a sublime and divine nature. A “tree canopy,” crafted of thin steel plate and ash, provided the means to realize this objective. Evoking the many trees in the bucolic setting of the new residence and chapel, the canopy endows the chapel with the yearbook | 2011 | 6
qualities of a sacred place of prayer. It collaborates with the movement of the sun as it arcs across the sky to weave a constantly changing tapestry of dappled light, enabling the construction to transcend mere bricks and mortar. While the canopy may not fit into any traditional architectural vocabulary, Gothic architectural forms and light giving elements inspired its upward thrust and aspiration to produce a sense of heavenly light.
Owner/Developer: Corporation of the Roman Catholic Clergymen Structural Engineer: CVM Engineers Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing, Fire Protection: James Posey Associates Civil Engineer: Century Engineering General Contractor: Plano-Coudon, LLC LEED Consultant: Lorax Partnerships LLC Landscape Architect: Hord Coplan Macht Food Service: Hammer Design Associates Hardware: Jack Soeffing Acoustics: Metropolitan Acoustics, LLC Lighting: Fisher Marantz Stone Photography: Paul Warchol, Halkin Photography LLC
honor award built
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Dale & Francis Hughes Cancer Center at Pocono Medical Center EwingCole
Pocono Medical Center’s new 65,000-square-foot cancer center facility is connected by skywalk to the hospital and includes a comprehensive cancer program with two linear accelerator vaults, twenty chemotherapy infusion stations, pharmacy, CT simulator and PET/CT, conference spaces, a café, a meditation room, a three-story lobby, a central garden and a porte-cochère.
Pocono Medical Center aspired to create a forward-looking yet compassionate facility that communicates its mission and its leadership in cancer treatment within northeastern Pennsylvania. In doing so, the PMC team began to redefine its image and generate a new vision for its healthcare facilities in general. The new Cancer Center’s design aspired
to contribute to the healing process of its patients and caregivers by easing their duress through the introduction of references to the local natural environment: the Pocono Mountains. The L-shaped building was designed to wrap around two sides of a garden. The garden provides the focal point for the building and in doing so, references the idea of captured wilderness. The public areas of the project - the lobby and the waiting areas for radiation oncology and infusion as well as some of the infusion areas - wrap around the garden and share its seasonal change. Transparent glazing provides a sense of continuity between inside and outside. Owner/Developer: Pocono Medical Center Structural Engineer: EwingCole Electical Engineer: EwingCole Mechanical Engineer: EwingCole Civil Engineer: Pennoni & Associates General Contractor: Turner Construction Photography: Ron Blunt Photography yearbook | 2011 | 7
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honor award preservation, built
Restoration and Renovation of the Jayne House John Milner Architects
The historic Jayne House is located at the prominent corner of 19th and Delancey Streets in Philadelphia’s Rittenhouse Square neighborhood. The stately residence was designed in 1895 by the celebrated architect Frank Furness as the home of his niece Caroline Furness Jayne and her husband, eminent zoologist Dr. Horace Jayne and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In the 1920’s the home was sold to the Jacob Lit family and the new owners made significant interior alterations. In the 1940’s, the building served as a synagogue during which time the congregation gutted the entire
north side of the first floor for use as a one large worship space. The building continued to house various institutions until the current owners purchased the property in 2007 with ambitious plans to restore the building to its original grandeur and its original use as a single family residence. Despite the years of modifications, many original features survived including the twoand-a-half-story oak paneled central hall crowned by a leaded-glass skylight designed by Furness. After removing a maze of 1980’s office partitions, the architects reinterpreted new floor plans based on the original con-
figuration. New second floor bathrooms, bedrooms and closets were created utilizing original wall, door and window locations wherever possible. A small, residential elevator was added in the former location of an original dumbwaiter in a service area of the house. New mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems were discreetly installed to maximize open space. In adapting the 19th century residence to a 21st century family, the designers introduced a first floor kitchen into the location of an original rear parlor that was gutted in the 1940s. The intent was to minimize the effect on the existing building fabric. New cabinetry, appliances and coffered ceiling were installed. casing, were carefully restored. The new kitchen conveniently serves the adjacent dining room. Moving eastward through a new, large pair of pocket doors, a small library was formed on axis with the original curved bay window at the location of an original ante room. Next, a formal parlor was restored to the northeast corner of the building anchored by a restored and reinterpreted fireplace. Because no original building fabric remained in this area, the architects used other mantels in the home for inspiration. Between the parlor and library a new, transparent “partition” was created featuring tall Corinthian columns sitting atop low bookcases with leaded glass doors. This creates an interpretive break between the two rooms, while keeping the spaces open and light-filled. The comprehensive restoration of the exterior included a new terracotta tile roof, full masonry restoration, conservation of Karl Bitter designed sculptural elements, a new roof deck, new bluestone parking courtyard with a custom engineered drop-down garage door, and ironwork restoration throughout. After this complex three-year project this landmark residence once again houses an active, modern family and is now ready for its next 115 years. Owner/Developer: Private Structural Engineer: Thornton Tomasetti Interior Designer: Eberlein Design Consultants General Contractor: Cherokee Construction Photography: Tom Crane Photography
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honor award unbuilt
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Wallpaper House
Moto Design Shop
Commissioned by Wallpaper* Magazine, the firm was challenged to design an innovative small house of approximately 100m2 in a rural setting. The firm responded by creating a get-away home for a temporal owner; an Artist’s Retreat on a sandy bayfront on Cape Cod, MA, with dunes to the east and beautiful bay views to the west. The home was developed around two contradicting requirements. First, the shoreline location and temporal use required the ability for the home to close down and be fully protected from storms when not occupied. Second, the artist wanted to maintain the open views of the bay for inspiration in his work. It was then logical to nestle the home into the dunes, taking advantage of the natural storm protection the site would provide to the east. The concrete shell would serve as retaining wall, floating floor slab and roof. The remaining western sides could then be glazed for excellent views over the bay, but would be vulnerable to the elements so a protective solution would need to be added at those ends. With the art studio claiming a good portion of the available square footage, the firm realized the owner would need some additional usable space. To achieve this, 100m2 footprint was divided in two masses and
pulled them apart to create a third interstitial space. This new third space would become the fulcrum of the project serving as entry, hallway, dining and garden. A protective element was introduced in the form of a sliding screen roof/wall system. This screen would gives the ability to protect the western glazing and the courtyard when the home is not in use. When pulled away from the central mass, the screen creates a shaded carport, opens the courtyard to the sky and transforms from a security/weather protection element to a delicate multi-purposed wrapping. At the same time, the art
studio rolls out along the slab and cantilevers over the bay, providing panoramic views for the artist’s inspiration. When the painting’s final stoke has been made and it’s time to leave the house, the studio rolls back into the shell and the screen is pushed back into place, converting the home back into a secured rectangular form sitting gracefully on the landscape. Owner/Developer: Wallpaper Magazine Illustrations: Moto Design Shop yearbook | 2011 | 9
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honor award divine detail
Cor-Ten Cattails
Archer & Buchanan Architecture, Ltd. Located on a 12-acre property in Berwyn sits an Arts & Crafts Inspired House designed and built roughly ten years ago. The property and structures continue to evolve with the most recent addition of a sculptural fence. While performing as a “fence” to keep deer out it was conceived as yard sculpture. Roughly 300 individual COR-TEN steel blades, set 8 inches apart, stretch from the corner of the house to the edge of the property. COR-TEN steel is different from typical steel in that it is essentially pre-rusted. It is made up of a group of steel alloys, which were developed to eliminate the need for painting and form a stable rust-like appearance. The material was chosen for its rich, dark color that picks up on the clay tile roof of the house and for the steel’s durability. Each stanchion stands 8 feet above grade, 2 feet below, weighs 80-90 lbs, and is 5/8” thick. The profile of the stanchions is an irregular trapezoid that abstractly relates to forms taken from the house. No stanchion is parallel with any other except at the gate, and full scale templates were made to help the contractor set each one individually in concrete at its own angle. There are no horizontal connections or supports between stanchions in the fence. The gate has only two horizontal bars to help span the driveway, and each leaf weighs 1200 lbs. Fence stanchions were cut with a plasma cutter from sheets of COR-TEN steel and gate stanchions were cut and then welded to solid machined steel bars. The serpentine layout of the fence is deliberate. Combined with the angular profile of the stanchions, the winding plan can play some interesting tricks on the eyes; from some points the fence looks solid, and others it looks blade thin, sometimes projecting a wave effect of light passing through. During strong winds it actually becomes kinetic, an allusion to blowing blades of grass. Owner/Developer: Private Structural Engineer: Structural Design Associates Structural Steel: O'Rourke & Sons Inc. General Contractor: Pablo Mora Photography: Tom Crane Photography yearbook | 2011 | 10
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merit award built
G. Wayne Clough Undergraduate Learning Center Bohlin Cywinski Jackson
The G. Wayne Clough Learning Commons is a 220,000 square foot, $72 million facility for collaborative learning, scientific instruction, student support and undergraduate life at the center of the Georgia Tech campus. Along with the adjacent existing library facilities, the Clough Commons now forms Georgia Tech’s core undergraduate academic facility.
The project created and defined Tech Green, Georgia Tech’s new central outdoor green space, incorporated a roof garden that has become one of the school’s most popular destination amenities, and unified pedestrian circulation through the heart of the campus. The building’s form and envelope were designed and modeled to achieve a balance of solar gain control, campus views and daylight harvesting, utilizing a range of approaches and technologies that vary with building orientation and internal programming. The building accommodates a wide range of learning spaces from large auditoria to small, informal study corners, including instructional science labs, cutting edge specialty classrooms for distance learning and “Scale-Up” type interactive and experiential learning, breakout rooms for small group discussion and instruction, and reconfigurable open spaces for various modes of tutoring. Rather than provide space for individual faculty or academic departments, the facility incorporates various student-focused success programs providing support at all levels: from the writing and communication center and a “Tech Support” office to the tutoring and undergraduate studies programs; all centered on a “Core” help desk. All these are organized around large core zones of
daylit, flexibly furnished “Commons” spaces to support student study, interaction and collaboration. The students, whose needs were at the heart of the design process, have made the Clough Commons a success: the building is fully occupied 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. In its first semester alone it was visited over 1,000,000 times, logging over 14,000 instructional hours and over 19,000 tutoring hours; students reserved group study rooms over 10,000 times. Owner/Developer: Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia Civil and Structural Engineer: The Facility Design Group Structural Subconsultant: Palmer Engineering Co. Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing, Fire Protection, Fire Alarm: Newcomb & Boyd Construction Manager: Turner Construction Company Landscape Architect: AECOM Laboratory Design: RFD Lighting Design: Fisher Marantz Stone Audio Visual: The Sextant Group Inc. Cost Consultant: Becker and Frondorf Life Safety: Rolf Jensen Associates Photographer: Paul Warchol
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merit award built
University of Delaware Bookstore and Office of Development and Alumi Relations DIGSAU
The new University of Delaware Bookstore is a 60,000-square-foot building situated amongst several historic structures in the heart of downtown Newark, at the edge of the University of Delaware campus. This project explores how the placeless big-box retail experience can be reconsidered by integrating the structure into an urban space, reshaping typical massing strategies to promote a symbiotic relationship between public and private space. The big-box massing typically utilized by the retailer was reformed to provide an exterior urban plaza and pedestrian thoryearbook | 2011 | 12
oughfare. Interior and exterior spaces are integrated through a network of parallel and intersecting paths. Sited amongst several historic structures, this project creates a significant public plaza that connects East Main Street and Academy Street while providing principal ample frontage for the Bookstore, an exterior cafe seating, and exterior gathering space for University of Delaware students, Newark residents and visitors, alike. The historic Christina School Building was restored and incorporated into the Bookstore as a double-height cafe.
Owner/Developer: University of Delaware Structural Engineer: Macintosh Engineers Electrical Engineer: DEDC Mechanical Engineer: DEDC Landscape Architecture: Studio | Bryan Hanes General Contractor: BPGS Photography/Illustrations: Halkin Photography LLC
merit award built
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330 Cooper
Erdy McHenry Architecture
Rutgers University together in a public private partnership with the Camden County Improvement Authority imagine this project as a line in the sand to turn the tide of disinvestment and signal a long term commitment to the rebirth and revitalization of the City of Camden. Leveraging the urban infrastructure and newly constructed light rail system Rutgers has embraced Camden as part of its campus rather than simply a city in which their campus exists. This new mixed use residential and retail development
introduces housing and other commercial activities to enhance the viability and safety of their surrounding environment as a critical element in building the viability of neighborhoods to encourage private sector activities to respond to an improved built environment and to contribute to a broader momentum essential to Camden’s long term recovery and growth. 330 Cooper Street incorporates a variety of active and passive conservation strategies that reduce the building’s impact on the en-
vironment and contribute to a more sustainable community economically, socially and environmentally. This redevelopment of a blighted urban site with its access to light rail and other forms of public transportation supports the connection of this walkable community to a broader regional transportation infrastructure. The façade of the building utilizes a pressure balanced gasketed rain screen which reduces the solar load on the building as part of an overall enhance the building as part of an overall enhanced thermal envelope resulting in a significant reduction in energy consumption. Residential units and public areas are configured to maximize natural daylighting and views of Camden and nearby Philadelphia. A combination of a reflected roof membrane and vegetated roof combine to reduce the urban heat island effect while reducing storm water runoff. Owner/Developer: Rutgers University Camden Structural Engineer: The Harman Group Electrical Engineer: In Posse Mechanical Engineer: In Posse Civil Engineer: Maser Consulting General Contractor: Joseph Jingoli and Son Photography: Todd Mason, Halkin Photography LLC yearbook | 2011 | 13
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merit award built
Kent Campus Phase 2 Pavillion Expansion at Bayhealth Medical Center EwingCole Bayhealth Medical Center’s newly completed Phase II Clinical Pavilion is part of an ongoing master plan expansion of Bayhealth’s Kent Campus, located in Dover, DE. The $140M, 391,000-square-foot project connects to existing facilities and is also designed as a base for a future seven-story patient tower. The program includes stateof-the-art emergency and trauma departments with a helipad. An integrated cancer center located just off the new entrance lobby houses radiation oncology, medical oncology and infusion. Additional programs include a 375-car garage attached directly to the building, a conference and training center, a central sterile department and a com-
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pounding pharmacy. A new central services building (CSB) is located across the street from the new facility and linked to it with a bridge designed to accommodate separate paths for visitors and service.
Owner/Developer: Bayhealth Medical Center Structural Engineer: EwingCole Electrical Engineer: EwingCole Mechanical Engineer: EwingCole Parking Garage Consultant: Timothy Haahs and Associates Landscape Architect: The Becker Morgan Group General Contractor: Whiting-Turner Conracting Co. Photography: Halkin Photography LLC, Ron Blunt Photography
merit award built
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The Salvation Army Ray & Joan Kroc Corps Community Center MGA Partners Architects
Built on an abandoned industrial estate in one of the city’s poorest neighborhoods which once exemplified the nation’s manufacturing might, the community center is the largest in scale in the East and serves over 1000 people daily. Successful transformation of the formerly derelict site has bridged adjacent residential neighborhoods long divided by the blighted industrial corridor, rejuvenated community pride and cohesion, and has spawned a new city planning study of the area, streetscape improvements, and proposals for surrounding development. The design responds to The Salvation Army’s evangelical identity, its core mission to meet social, physical, and spiritual needs through service, and its tradition as a prudent, conscientious organization. The building is designed around a light-filled curved civic space from which entrances to all major program facilities are accessed, including recreation & fitness facilities, an aquatics center, an early childhood education center, café, and worship and performing arts spaces. Wrapped in south-facing glass, this 2-story grand hallway extends outdoors, connecting interior programs with the central green and campus. Its identity is articulated in the beacon tower and the 25 foot high stone cross on site. A green jewel in a dense urban neighborhood, the campus includes landscaped gar-
dens, walking trails, playgrounds, gathering spaces, recreation areas and a large community farm. Adjacent to the athletic fields, a wood pavilion provides amenities and a meeting room. The elliptical central green, shaped by the community center’s monumental curved wall and the created woodland, functions both as an outdoor assembly room and an urban sanctuary. Through a combination of construction and site waste recycling strategies as well as aggressive water management techniques, the 12.4-acre campus is one of the region’s most environmentally progressive brownfield redevelopments. Owner/Developer: The Salvation Army Ray & Joan Kroc Corps Community Center Associate Architect: PZS Architects Landscape Architect: Andropogon Sructural Engineer: CVM Engineers Systems Engineers: HF Lenz Company Civil Engineer: Duffield Associates Lighting Design: Tigue Lighting Acoustic Consultant: Acentech Aquatics/Fitness Consultant: Ohlson Lavoie Collaborative Theater Consultant: Davis Crossfield Graphic Design: Whitehouse & Company Photography: Halkin Photography LLC, Eduard Hueber yearbook | 2011 | 15
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merit award built
IU Cinema and Theater and Drama Renovations MGA Partners Architects
The project combines two distinct programs that significantly contribute to Indiana University’s reputation as a center for arts and culture. These are the acclaimed Department of Theater and Drama and the NealMarshall Education Center - the University’s African American cultural institution. The site forms part of the university’s performing arts precinct of the campus, alongside the Indiana University Auditorium and the Musical Arts Center. The site also holds an important position in the landscape, linking paths from the student residence halls to the academic core and to Showalter Fountain, a prominent campus place. The new Theatre & Drama Center and Neal-Marshall Education Center is composed of two architectural expressions. One, along Jordan Avenue, creates a public presence for the new performance facilities; and a second, for the academic community, relates to the landscaped grounds of the central campus. On the east side of the new building, the primary performance spaces - a 450-seat proscenium theater, and a 250-seat experimental theater and choral hall - are unified with a single lobby that faces Jordan Avenue. This two-story space of limestone, wood and yearbook | 2011 | 16
Department of Theater and Drama and the Neal-Marshall Education Center are here, where the courtyard and terrace open to the wooded landscape and the pedestrian paths of the campus. The terrace and courtyard provide the university community a place for quiet study as well as a setting for the small gatherings and chance encounters so necessary for academic life. The existing Department spaces in the Auditorium are renovated and connected to the new building to create a unified facility. The original theater will be restored to become a 350-seat lecture hall and film venue. Floors will be added into the original stagehouse to create a new studio theater.
glass, steps back along the street to create movement in the façade and a sense of excitement for the theater patron, especially as it is lighted at night. On the west side, the new building connects directly with the Auditorium to form a courtyard and terrace. The entrances for the
Owner/Developer: Indiana University Structural Engineer: Fink Roberts & Petrie Systems Engineer: Durkin & Villalta Partners Engineering Motion Picture Consulting: Cardinal Sound & Motion Picture Systems Acoustical/Audio Visual Consulting: Acentech Lighting Design: Tigue Lighting Theater Consulting: Rob Shakespeare Photography/Illustrations: Halkin Photography LLC
merit award built
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Lantern House RKM Architects
Lantern house is a modestly priced adaptive reuse of a single story brick stable in the Fishtown section of Philadelphia. Design of the house is conceived as two masses, floating above the open floor plan of the first floor, flanking the central shade garden. Intervention at the ground plane is deliberately minimal, allowing the historic texture to remain, while the upper masses are conceived as simply constructed, modestly appointed volumes. The front volume includes the entry hall, a studio/professional office space, and an in-law suite which may be converted to additional studio space in the future. The rear volume contains bedrooms and support spaces. On the third floor rear, there is a sunroom and rear deck that look west toward the city skyline. Functionally, the organization of the program elements affords the client the ability to conduct business at the front of the house, distinct from the living spaces at the rear. The original structure was built to the property lines. As a result, the outdoor spaces were delineated within the perimeter of the existing brick walls in the form of the sun garden at the southwest side, and the shade garden; forming a central courtyard. The original brick walls double as both interior
and exterior garden walls. The gardens are a critical part of the daylighting strategy, as well as the strategy to provide passive ventilation to the structure. By opening sliding doors at the first floor, cool air is drawn in, and the chimney effect draws warm air up and out the third floor clerestory windows and doors. The project reassess existing Philadelphia rowhouse paradigms by proposing an alternate solution for open space and daylighting. The massing affords a light filled open plan at the ground plane, while maintaining a sense of privacy. Privacy and daylighting drove the massing of the upper levels as well, with the south façade notched back to allow skylights and fenestration parallel to the south party wall. Translucent glazing was employed in locations in which privacy needed to be maintained, while clear glass and openness were employed where views to the exterior were desirable. The original brick and timber structure play an integral part in the design. The brick walls are exposed throughout the first floor, while the yellow pine wood timber roof structure was reclaimed for use as rainscreen cladding, interior stairs, millwork and furniture.
Owner/Developer: Richard Miller, AIA, & Kimberly Miller, AIA Structural Engineer: Macintosh Engineering MEP Engineer: Urban Technology Inc. Photography: RKM Architects, Matt Wargo yearbook | 2011 | 17
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merit award unbuilt
Temple 20/20 Masterplan MGA Partners Architects
Temple 20/20 envisions a ten year, multiphased masterplan for transforming Temple into a community-engaged, pedestrianoriented academic and cultural destination in Philadelphia. The masterplan balances University goals of academic and residential growth with the urban and contextual issues of the Campus and the surrounding neighborhoods. After a thorough evaluation of campus configuration and academic adjacencies, new buildings were proposed in key development sites to strengthen existing academic and residential clusters. New mixed-use, residential towers identify gateways to campus and populate Broad Street with student activity. The development of a new signature campus library at the intersection of Broad and Berks Streets, further activities Broad yearbook | 2011 | 18
Street and helps transform Temple from a cardominated campus into a unified, pedestrianoriented campus. The center of campus is transformed by the demolition of an aging science building to create a full-block open landscaped quad. This will become the central outdoor space on a dense urban campus currently lacking in meaningful open space. The proposed building and landscape improvements increase academic space by 18 percent and open space by 125 percent respectively. Residential facilities are increased by 50 percent. The masterplan also promotes sustainable development such as use of mass transportation, storm water management, adaptive reuse of existing buildings and green roofs. Developing Temple’s north Philadelphia campus strengthens Broad Street initia-
tives, such as the Avenue of the Arts, also envisioned by MGA Partners in our previous studies, and strengthens Temple’s connection to Center City Philadelphia and its surrounding neighborhoods. Owner/Developer: Temple University Associate Architect: Kelley/Maiello Transportation Planning: JzTI Systems Engineers: Bruce E. Brooks & Associates Civil Engineer: Hunt Engineering Company Environmental Engineer: Nitsch Engineering Lighting Consultant: The Lighting Practice Illustrations: MGA Partners Architects
merit award divine detail
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NGA Geospatial-Intelligence Agency Campus East Identity KlingStubbins
As a member of the U.S. Intelligence Community, NGA provides geospatial intelligence for U.S. national defense, disaster relief, and safety of navigation. NGA’s unique mission requires a large number of employees to work in enclosed, monochrome environments with low light levels to support high-definition analysis of highly sensitive information. Color and graphics, strongly connected to the NGA mission and culture, were stra-
tegically used in the design of NGA’s new headquarters to offer a playful respite from the work environment, to help establish a strong agency identity, and aid in navigation and orientation throughout the 2.4 million square-foot building. The color scheme draws from a distillation of the “Colors of the Earth” from satellite imagery which is then aligned with NGA’s historic cartography mission. The north and south wings of the building are divided into distinct areas, or “neighborhoods”, based on the color symbology used in map making. This concept is further expressed with color-rich graphic imagery and in naming conventions where room names in the north wing are derived from land features in the northern hemisphere and those in the south wing are derived from land features in southern hemisphere. The full spectrum of the color scheme radiates under the abundant natural light of the building’s Atrium. The large open space, with its amenity features, provides a hub of social activities for more than 8,500 employ-
ees. The color scheme is further enhanced within the Atrium by a pattern ”mapped” onto the atrium’s glass curtain wall, recalling the geographic coordinate framework of the earth and the complex networking of intelligence agencies. The layering of these elements emulates the NGA mapping process where information from myriad intelligence sources is collected, overlaid, and assembled. Thomas J. Bukoski, Deputy Director of NGA’s Facility Programs Office, said of the impact of this concept: “These colors and graphics show us the way, symbolize who we are, and carry into our work environments to give us identity. Our central atrium is aglow with these colors throughout the day, and in the hours of darkness they enliven this central area. The colors brighten our spirits and workforce and make NGA a great place to work. Owner/Developer: National GeospatialIntelligence Agency Structural Engineer: RTKL/KlingStubbins Electrical Engineer: RTKL/KlingStubbins General Contractor: Clark/Balfour Beatty Life Safety Codes: Cherokee Fire Protection Food Service: Culinary Advisors Vertical Transportation: Van Deusen & Associates Signage: Walter Montgomery Howard Graphic Design Irrigation: ICS, Inc. Fountain: Hydro Dramatics Photography: James West, Paul Warchol, David Whitcomb yearbook | 2011 | 19
Blake Marvin, HKS, Inc.
Don Pearse Photographers
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exhibitors
Atkin Olshin Schade Architects, Episcopal Academy Tennis Pavilion
Tom Crane Photography
Don Pearse Photographers
Array Healthcare Facilities Solutions, Capital Health Medical Center - Hopewell
Barton Partners Architects, The Whitehall at Bryn Mawr
BAU Architecture, Shadows of the Fallen: Fallen Heroes Memorial Design Competition
Bergmann Associates, SUNY Geneseo Seneca Hall
BAU Architecture
Ballinger, University of Wisconsin, The Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery
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Jeffrey Totaro Photographer
exhibitors
BLT Architects, The Latham Hotel
Don Pearse Photographers
Jeffrey Totaro Photographer
Blackney Hayes Architects, Academy in Manayunk
BWA Architecture and Planning, St. Joseph's University, John and Maryanne Hennings Post Learning Commons
Jeffrey Totaro Photographer
Buell Kratzer Powell, High Bay Research Laboratory, University of Pennsylvania
Casaccio Yu Architects, Chestnut Hill College: Gulati Complex
Claflen Associates, Philadelphia Skyplane Zoning
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Paul Bartholomew
EX
exhibitors
Eimer Design, Galfand Berger, LLP
Jeffrey Totaro Photographer
Chris Cooper Photographer
CLR Design, Conservation Resource Center- Utah's Hogle Zoo
Francis Cauffman, Young, Conaway, Stargatt & Taylor, LLP Courthouse Project
H2L2
Heckendorn Shiles Architects
Environetics, Kynetics
H2L2, South Street Bridge
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Heckendorn Shiles Architects, Ambler Boiler House
EX
Mark Henninger
Jeffrey Totaro Photographer
exhibitors
JKR Partners, Kohelet Yeshiva High School
Halkin Photography LLC
James Wentling/Architect, New Port, Portsmouth, VA
Kass & Associates, House on the Delaware River
Halkin Photography LLC
Jaci Downs Photography
John Hubert Architects, St. Mary's Episcopal Church Conceptual Master Plan for Expansion
Kelly/Maiello Inc., New West Philadelphia High School
Kimmel Bogrette Architecture + Site, Haverford Township Community Recreation and Environmental Center
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Jeffrey Totaro Photography
Halkin Photography LLC
EX
exhibitors
L2Partridge, EMD
Halkin Photography LLC
KSS Architects, Richard Stockon College of the New Jersey Campus Center
neely architecture, Guest House
Halkin Photography LLC
Michael Ryan Architects, Hill Valley
Peter Zimmerman Architects, Addition and Renovation, Glen Mills, PA
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Purdy O'Gwynn Architects, The Philadelphia School - Early Childhood Education Center
EX
Sam Robinsion
exhibitors
S. Robinson & Associates, "Woodland Walk," Lyman, NH
Matt Wargo
Andropogon
PZS Architects, Trujillo Center: Pan American Charter School & Harcum College
Schradergroup Architecture, Mount Nittany Elementary School
Halkin Photography LLC
Denmarsh Photography, Inc.
SaylorGregg Architects, Chestnut Hill College Campus Master Plan
SMP Architects, Kensington High School for the Creative and Performing Arts
Stantec, Carthage College - New Student Center
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Studio of Metropolitan Design
EX
exhibitors
UJMN Architects + Designers, Quorum
Tom Crane Photography
Jeffrey Totaro Photographer
Studio of Metropolitan Design, 614 Saint Andrews Road Residence
VSBA, The Curtis Institute of Music, Lenfest Hall
Morris Cook
Jeffrey Totaro Photographer
Voith & Mactavish Architects LLP, New Addition, Mercer Museum
Wallace Roberts & Todd, Germantown Academy New Upper/Middle School
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William Cook Architecture & Planning, Grey Rocks Farm - Barn Reconstruction
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 | 27
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 2012 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, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers • American Society of Landscape Architects Pennsylvania Delaware Chapter • Associated Builders & Contractors, Inc • Community Design Collaborative • Construction Management Association of America • Construction Specification Institute Philadelphia Chapter • 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 • International Interior Design Association • Pennsylvania Planning Association • Philadelphia National Organization of Minority Architects • Society for Marketing Professional Services • Urban Land Institute Philadelphia Chapter Exhibitors: Acuity Brands Controls Acuity Brands Lighting Andersen Windows, Inc. ARC - Eastern Best Tile of NJ & Stone Peak Ceramics Cenero Church Brick Co. Commercial Roofing Solutions Compass Iron Works Conspectus, Inc. CST Products Danver Derr Flooring EDA Contractors, Inc. Environmental Connection EP Henry Fairway Building Products yearbook | 2011 | 28
Faithful + Gould Fizzano Bros. Concrete Products, Inc. Free AXEZ General Building Contractors Association, Inc Griffiths Construction Hearthstone Homes Huber Engineered Woods Illuminations, Inc IMS Audio Visual, Inc. Ingersoll Rand Security Technologies J.E. Berkowitz, LP Jarrett Vaughan Builders & Cold Spring Cabinetry Loewen – Norwood Windows Lutron Electronics MaGrann Associates Marquis Agency & Liberty Insurance Company Marvin Windows & Doors Modernfold/Styles Inc. New Holland Concrete NextFab Studio Pella Window & Door Company Philadelphia Architectural Woodworkers Association Prosurance Redeker Group & One Beacon rooflite S & S Resources, Inc. Set-Rite Overhead Doors & Dock Equipment SimpleHome Stone Source Stone-Glidden Tague Lumber & Tague Design Showroom Techo-Bloc The Harman Group Total Access & Mobility, Inc. Transamerica Retirement Services Unilock Walker Glass Wolshen Construction Company
Sponsors Microsol Resources • The Brick Industry • Architectural Glass InstitutE • Langan Engineering and environmental serviceS • Keast & Hood Co. • Andersen Windows and Doors • CVM Construction • IMC COnstruction • LANDSCAPEFORMS • Powell Trachtman Logan Carrle & Lombardo, PC • The Harman Group • Urban Engineers • AKRF • IMS AUDIO/VISUAL
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.
Dominic Mercier
Dominic Mercier
Sponsored by the Associates Committee
Canstruction Committee: Jared Edgar McKnight, Assoc. AIA Event Chair Erike De Verya, Assoc. AIA Mena El-Turky Michael Fierle, Assoc. AIA Kelly Ganczarz Cassidy Hobbs, Assoc. AIA Melissa Centurio Lopes Anne Niedrach, Assoc. AIA Sarah Salem
Canstruction teams American Society of Civil Engineers: Younger Members Forum Array Architects, Inc. Bala Consulting Engineers Bohlin Cywinski Jackson Environetics Gilbane Building Company Illuminations, Inc. KieranTimberlake Kitchen & Associates NELSON Philadelphia University Architecture STV Incorporated Temple University AIAS Freedom By Design Wallace Roberts & Todd, LLC with Bloomfield & Associates Architects
Dominic Mercier
Sponsors Center For Architecture AssociateS Committee AIA Philadelphia The Shops at Liberty Place Crown Holdings O'Donnell & Naccarato ARC NRI Derisory Designs CH Briggs Kevin + Sharon McKnight Jeffrey Totaro Photographer Synergetic Sound + Lighting Sano Catering yearbook | 2011 | 29
Community Design Collaborative
1216 Arch Street, Philadelphia | cdesignc.org
Design matters, especially for communities who are tackling challenges like growing neighborhood businesses, transforming residential blocks, or creating sustainable schoolyards, parks, and streetscapes. The Community Design Collaborative leverages a network of over 1,000 design professionals to strengthen neighborhoods through design. The nonprofits and agencies who seek our help value the Collaborative’s design process and the results we deliver. Our work gives design professionals who want to help appreciate meaningful opportunities to benefit the community. Through the Collaborative’s proven preliminary design process, nonprofits and neighborhoods work side-by-side with volunteer design teams. This first phase of design--“the first 10%” of a full design—puts a vision down on paper and helps organizations generate support, raise funds, and get projects built. In 2012, the Collaborative coordinated the pro bono preliminary design services of over 200 design professionals, leveraging more than 7,000 hours of expertise for 26 area nonprofits. Many of these projects will result in project funding, design consultant yearbook | 2011 | 30
contracts, and construction. This year, the Collaborative also partnered with the Philadelphia Water Department and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Infill Philadelphia: Soak It Up! This 18-month design initiative is promoting innovative green stormwater infrastructure for Philadelphia through a national design competition, design charrettes, and exhibitions.
Founded in 1991 as a program of AIA Philadelphia, today the Collaborative is an independent 501(c) (3) nonprofit. The Collaborative relies on a diverse mix of funding to maintain its programs, including individual and corporate gifts. This support helps us continue to meet the needs of neighborhoods, provide inspiring opportunities for design professionals, and engage the public in creative problem-solving.
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 Courtnay Tyus, Director of Admissions and Marketing Michael Connor, Director of Operations Phyllis Santiago, Principal Miguel Vazquez, Director of College Placement 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
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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.
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
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.
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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
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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
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
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 yearbook | 2011 | 35
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 yearbook | 2011 | 36 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.