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 2009 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.
Cover image: Thin Flats photo courtesy Mariko Reed Architectural Photography.
2009 Awards for Design Excellence
At the 2009 Awards for Design Excellence, held October 14, 2009, at the Loews Philadelphia hotel, 15 architectural projects received Honor and Merit Awards. The Gold Medal was presented to Martin Jay Rosenblum and Associates for The Spreter Studio. The Silver Medal was presented to Wallace Roberts & Todd for its Roosevelt Plaza. In addition, the following awards were given by AIA Philadelphia for individual achievement: AIA Philadelphia John Harbeson Award, for lifetime achievement of the highest standards of professionalism, accomplishment, and regard for the development of his younger colleagues Emanuel Kelly, FAIA Kelly/Maiello, Architects and Planners AIA Philadelphia Young Architects Award, for demonstrated excellence and exceptional contributions to the field of architecture Patrick Stewart McDonough, AIA John Milner Architects Jury Rod Kruse, FAIA BNIM, Des Moines, IA Elizabeth Amirahadi, AIA International Architects Atelier, Kansas City, MO Dan Maginn, AIA el dorado inc, Kanas City, MO
Platinum Sponsor Clemens Construction Gold Sponsors Gallagher Benefit Services Powell Trachtman Logan Carrle & Lombardo Silver Sponsors O’Donnell & Naccarato Bronze Sponsors Diener Brick Company S&S Resources Copper Sponsors The Harman Group McGrory Glass Nason Construction, Inc.
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The Spreter Studio Martin Jay Rosenblum and Associates
The Spreter Studio was erected as a small studio and four-car garage on the property of Roy Spreter, a prominent graphic designer. The studio was designed in 1934 by William Lescaze and combined the clean aesthetic of the international style for the studio with a native field stone base for the garage. The studio was oriented to maximize northern light and to take advantage
of views overlooking Mill Creek. When the original property was subdivided, the studio was converted to full residential use, with a large bedroom wing in 1952 and a kitchen in 1969. Bedrooms were added into
former garage spaces and the entry was altered. By 2004, the studio had fallen into disrepair. The building was so denatured that it was mistakenly listed as noncontributing in the Mill Creek Historic District Boundary Increase. Due to the building’s significance, an appeal was made by local preservation groups
to find a sympathetic buyer. Despite the additions, the studio building had become obsolete as a residence. Deterioration was so severe that it was determined “architectural triage” concentrating restoration efforts was needed. The mid-20th century additions to the studio were stripped away and the site was cleared to expose the studio’s initial setting, massing, and remaining finishes. The program was to return the studio and garages to their intended uses. The new addition was designed in accord with the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation. The addition was sited at a distance from the studio and against the slope of the site to allow for the studio to be viewed from 360 degrees. Owner/Developer: Mr. and Mrs. Michael Spewak Structural Engineer: Cooke Brown LLC Landscape/Site Consultant: Carter van Dyke Associates General Contractor: Robert Vermillion Builders Photographer: Jeffrey Totaro Photographer
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Roosevelt Plaza Wallace Roberts & Todd, LLC
For generations, the urban park at the heart of Camden, once known as Roosevelt Plaza, served as the central stage and front yard of this once-teeming industrial city. The shift of industry and population at the dawn of the automobile age led to the illconceived 1955 development known as The Parkade, which replaced the park with parking. As an important component in the strategy to reposition the city, the project sets out to demolish that mistake and recover and recenter the city through the development of a transit-centric public space that serves as a “welcome mat.� Embracing the PATCO high-speed line, the New Jersey Transit River Line, and linking to a nearby transit center, the new plaza and its transit pavilion serves to reconnect the city to the region. Creating a well-secured, yet open and inviting, environment that serves as a highly flexible vessel for multiple types of community events, the plaza provides a much-needed respite for a city-bound population. As part of the Strategic Revitalization Plan, the re-creation of Roosevelt Plaza will help leverage private investment in one of
New Jersey’s most economically depressed urban centers. Tapping into its enviable transit infrastructure, the park will attract investment along the commercial corridors that border the park.
Owner/Developer: Camden Redevelopment Agency Rendering: Wallace Roberts & Todd, LLC
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Point Drive Residence Michael Ryan Architects A beach house in Long Port, New Jersey … an irregular corner lot with limited view allets to the ocean and bay in a densely built shore community … within a highly negotiated building envelope.
A place to accommodate various family and friends in a matrix of combinations … accommodation is defined as the opportunity to escape from each other … Make your noise, absorb your media, get wet, and play with your friends. Living areas are a “patio” extending to and surrounding the pool … large windows are black and make selective connections to the surroundings … the skin is white to intensify the summer light and to contrast with the color of the sky and the wide, dark streets. A house defined by its audience and surroundings … crafted to produce distinct arrangements within and connections to the outdoors … ruled by a constrained, yet subjective, formal and material approach.
Structural Engineer: The Kachele Group Landscape Architect: Lisa Roth Landscape Architect General Contractor: Van Duyne + Bruin Builders Photographer: Rich Villa
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merit award divine detail
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Sixth Street Galley and Apartments Moto Design Shop Inc.
Located one block north of Girard Avenue on 6th and Thompson streets, the building, which was to become 6th Street Gallery, was one of a dozen or more desolate, abandoned properties in the neighborhood. In early 2003, the developer saw the 3,000-square-foot building as an opportunity, capable of transforming the neighborhood from blight to bright.
With $162,000 of financing in place from a local community reinvestment fund, the developer decided to work with three young architectural graduate students to rehabilitate the property. The students took on the role of designer-builder and soon brought the project into their academic realm as the focus of their third-year thesis project. This thesis was all about knowing
“how.” The students were searching for a kind of knowledge only uncovered by physically participating in the act of making. One could say that, at the time, part of the reason students struggled to articulate a “thesis question” was that forming a question presupposes a type of answer. They were searching for techniques and, ultimately, a design process that allowed for reinterpretation and exploration throughout construction.
Owner/Developer: Field 4 LLC Structural Engineer: Rivera Structural Design General Contractor: Field 4 LLC Photographer: Chrisman Photo
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Thin Flats Condominiums Plumbob LLC blur conventional lines of demarcation between all eight duplex dwellings both vertically and horizontally. In the process, a degree of density yet expansiveness uncommon to the thin space of the urban duplex emerges. The Philadelphia row is by nature a long, thin slice of dense, sustainable, urban space,
typically light-deficient and insular at its core. Thin Flats questions this traditional deficiency by spatially reconfiguring the relationship between the interior and its skin, such that its core is flooded with light and air. This skin also affords each room on the periphery of the dwelling the ability to step outside and yet remain in the skin.
This eight-unit residential project explores the highly efficient and architecturally latent potentials hidden within the traditional form of the Philadelphia rowhome. The vertical rhythm, regularity yet diversity, of this most prevalent residential urban typology was the primary source of inspiration for this experiment. Thin faces fronting both Laurel and Pollard streets mask and
Owner/Developer: Onion Flats Structural Engineer: AEC Associated Engineering Consultants Inc. Electrical Engineer: D’agostino Electric Inc. Mechanical Engineer: MaGrann Associates LEED Rater: MaGann Associates General Contractor: JIG Inc. Photographer: Mariko Reed Architectural Photography
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Marcus Nanotechnology Research Center Building, Georgia Institute of Technology Bohlin Cywinski Jackson
The Marcus Nanotechnology Research Center Building is one of the nation’s leading nanotechnology research centers, one of the largest cleanroom facilities in the southeast, and the first such facility designed to provide significant space for the application of nanoscience to biotechnology research, particularly in the fields of health care, green energy development, and personal technology. Georgia Tech envisioned the building as an important campus landmark. The $70 million project has a program of 190,000 gross square feet: 30,000 square feet of cleanroom floor space for organic and inorganic research, and nearly three times that amount in support spaces, including flexible lab space, office and conference facilities, and a central public area for circulation and social activities. The architects set out to transcend rigorous technical requirements, making for a humanistic environment that reflects the excitement of cuttingedge research. The site posed design challenges: a tight, steeply sloping parcel bordered by streets on three sides, and on the
Owner/Developer: Georgia Institute of Technology Architect of Record: M + W Zander U.S. Operations, Inc. Structural and Civil Engineer: Clough Harbour & Associates LLP Mechanical and Electrical Engineer: M + W Zander U.S. Operations, Inc. Laboratory Planner: Research Facilities Design Landscape Architect: EDAW, Inc. Lighting Design: Fisher Marantz Stone fourth by Eco Commons, an innovative sustainable oasis on the urban Atlanta campus. Site design included covering a street into a pedestrian campus link to two nearby build-
Construction Manager: The Whiting-Turner Company Photographer: Nic Lehoux Photography
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The Piazza at Schmidt’s Erdy McHenry Architecture, LLC The NoLi Housing project has become an integral part of the regeneration of the Northern Liberties community in Philadelphia. Located on a three-acre portion on the south side of the former Schmidt’s Brewery site, this complex comprises of modern apartment housing, retail, office space, public amenities, and the conversion of two vacant former warehouses. At the center of the project is an open space, which will be fronted by shops, galleries, and restaurants. The $100 million project has 100,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space and 80,000 square feet of public space in addition to 320 apartment units. The central open space is an outdoor urban space for gathering. Rather than
turning its back on the neighboring community, the open space becomes highly porous, allowing pedestrian access from every corner and providing underpasses within the building. A series of floating bridge structures connect the two wings of the largest structure, which is sheared in half to accentuate the street corner. One of the most prominent corners within the neighborhood, the five-point intersection at the tip of the project site is occupied by a seven-story, 30,000-square-foot glassclad office building that creates a focal point
for the entire area. With a ground floor encased in glazing, the building appears to hang on to the building core for support while enhancing the sense of openness.
Owner/Developer: Tower Investments Structural Engineer: Bala Consulting Engineers Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing Engineer: Advanced Engineering, Inc. Civil Engineer: TEI Consulting Engineers, Inc. Geotechnical Engineer: McClaymont & Rak Geotechnical Engineers General Contractor: L.F. Driscoll Company Photographer: Peter Kubilus, Paul Drzal
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The Radian Erdy McHenry Architecture, LLC The Radian is a 500-bed residential and retail center at the edge of the University of Pennsylvania’s rapidly expanding campus. The project was developed by a private developer in collaboration with the university, which owns the land. The design integrates ground-level retail, residential services, and open space in a hybrid that not only serves its residents and the university population, but also the broader West Philadelphia community. The building skin is a prefabricated rainscreen wall panel system. The prefabrication allows for tighter tolerance and higher construction and quality. Being manufactured offsite brings an economy to the project that could not be met with the typical construction process.
The building façade patterning is outcome based, driven by the efficiency of building system and functions behind it. Fenestration aligns with the public and private space relationship within each apartment while public spaces stand off from this grid. Both of these systems reduce the scale of the overall massing and site presence of the project.
Owner/Developer: Inland American Communities Structural Engineer: The Harman Group Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing Engineer: PHY Consulting Engineers Civil Engineer: Pennoni Associates, Inc. General Contractor: Intech Construction Photographer: Peter Kubilus, Thomas Holt
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Philadelphia City Hall Exterior Envelope Restoration
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Kelly/Maiello Architects & Planners
Planning for this preservation project began 18 years ago when the City of Philadelphia selected a multi-disciplinary team of Philadelphia-based consultants to develop a master plan, which included a historic structures report, implementation plan, executive summary. The design team selected for the master plan has worked on the project
throughout the exterior restoration. From 1994 to 1998, a series of four demonstration projects were conducted in the northeast quadrant of the building to determine the best methods to be used in the restoration and preservation of the original building fabric, its masonry, roofing, gutters and flashing, windows, ornamental cast iron, and sculpture. Dramatic improvements to the façade were immedi-
ately evident at the completion of the east center pavilion demonstration project. Restoration of the building has been accomplished in phases proceeding counterclockwise around the building from the east center pavilion. Extensive scaffolding was erected at each façade in phases to provide access to all exterior areas. The design and construction of the restoration has been developed in accordance with the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Historic Preservation.
Owner/Developer: City of Philadelphia Architect, Masonry Restoration: VITETTA Architect, Ornamental Cast Iron Restoration: Marianna Thomas Architects Structural Engineer: Keast & Hood Co. Mechanical, Electrical Engineer: Vinokur-Pace Engineering Services, Inc. Sculpture Restoration: Norton Art Conservation, Inc. Roofing Consultant: Stephen McLaughlin Owner’s Representative: C. B. Development, Inc. General Constractor: Daniel J. Keating Co. Photographer: Halkin Photography LLC
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Silliman College, Yale University KieranTimberlake Associates Silliman College is the largest and last of Yale University’s ten original residential colleges, completed in 1940 and housing 400 undergraduates in an immersive residential, academic, and social environment. Occupying an entire city block, the college is composed of structures from three different building campaigns begun in the 1890s and extending through 1940. The oldest part of the college consists of the gothic revival Vanderbilt-Sheffield dormitories and neo-classical Byers Hall. The Georgian brick
portion of the college, opened in 1940, connects the separate structures. The present work represents a fourth campaign in the ongoing conversation across histories, involving not comprehensive renovation and systems upgrades of these structures, but also insertion of new program and form throughout. The art here is surgical, not invasive – strategic and subtle, not pervasive. It is about judgement: what to retain, repair, and
restore? What to develop anew? It is about a dialogue of material respect and admiration between old form and new purpose; simultaneous histories making each other better. Owner/Developer: Yale University Structural Engineer: CVM Structural Engineers Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing Engineer: BVH Integrated Services Civil Engineer: BVH Integrated Services Landscape Architect: Towers/Golde Lighting Consultant: Tigue Lighting, Inc. Lighting Restoration: Enchanted Glassworks Interior Design: Herbert S. Newman and Partners P.C. Food Service: Ricca Newmark Code Consultant: Bruce Speiwak Signage Consultant: Strong Cohen Cost Estimator: International Consultants, Inc. Elevator: Van Duesen Construction Manager: Turner Construction Company Photographer: Halkin Photography LLC
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West Campus Residential Initiative, Cornell University KieranTimberlake Associates
The development of the West Campus Residential Initiative represents an extraordinary vision for Cornell University to rede-
fine the residential experience by drawing students more fully into the intellectual community through integrated living with faculty, graduate students, and visiting scholars. The West Campus is located down slope from Cornell’s main academic quadrangle, with existing 1920s neo-gothic buildings by Day & Klauder serving as a gateway to the community. The dramatic landscape and existing historic buildings formed the basis for the architectural language of the project.
The new plan provides housing for 1,250 undergraduate students in five new college houses, with common areas located in transparent pavilions to provide a vibrant intellectual and social hub. Sinuous building forms run counter slope to take full advantage of daylight, maximizing exposure into the house greens and common spaces. The slipping, or intentional misalignment, of
these forms allows for the extension of outdoor spaces and creates dynamic views of the building ends from the paths between the buildings. So that some buildings could be inhabited during the six-year construction period, the program was carefully balanced withing each house and building to meet phasing and occupancy needs. Owner/Developer: Cornell University Architect of Record (Phases two and three): Ewing Cole General Contractor: Welliver McGuire Inc. Structural Engineer: ARUP, CVM Engineers, EwingCole Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing Engineer: ARUP, EwingCole, Bruce E. Brooks and Associates Civil Engineer: T.G. Miller, P.C. Landscape Architect: Andropogon Associates, Ltd., Trowbridge & Wolfe Lighting Design: ARUP Lighting Foodservice Consultant: Ricca Newmark Design Photographer: Peter Aaron/Esto, Jon Reis
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Loft LS Populace Office The owner of this project bought two raw units of an abandoned industrial building, and what was left was for the architects to decide. The turn-of-century construction housed various manufacturers had not been occupied for years. The elements of the typical concrete frame with masonry infill were in a state that made repair unpractical. One pillar, which later became a deliberation of the space layout, was brought back to its bare appearance. The rest of existing surface was reduced to an abstract
shell with a monolithic tone, allowing it to rhyme with new installations. Where the unit was situated urged the architects to contemplate: • How to gaze at the formerly prosperous Reading Railroad • How to fully utilize the undisrupted northeast morning light • How to create a circulation that both
engages with a introspective environment and embraces the privileged views over north city boundary Philadelphia The node between the foyer and main living space performs a division between the public and private. A 45-foot by 30-foot floor plate with a nearly 12-foot exposed ceiling consists of a foyer, living, dinning, kitchen, two full baths and two bedrooms. The overall arrangement of the apartment is driven by the continuous north and east exposure and an existing massive concrete pillar. The focus on mobility of various elements, including furniture, is introduced to compress the maximum program into a limited floor area, around which are gathered the kitchen, living and dining areas, library, and a laundry alcove. Each function can be seen as a territory on its own and also part of a whole.
Owner/Developer: Private General Contractor: Populace Office Mechanical Engineer: Barbara Montalbano, PE, LEED AP Photographer: Halkin Photography LLC
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Lumen-Air House Erdy McHenry Architecture, LLC The joys of Syracuse weather are the challenges of designing higher-performing, lower-energy housing for such a place. In August, it is 82 degrees with a pleasant westerly breeze, but, in February, it is 15 degrees with a no-so-pleasant northwest wind. The challenge is not simply to design a house, but to design two houses in one – a multi-mode environmental device. The Lumen-Air House is a machine for living, in relation to the weather. In the warmer months – May through midOctober – the house opens, flower-like, to filter sunlight and accept the free flow of fresh air. For the cold gray winter it buttons up. The interior living spaces are protected and insulated by thermal buffer zones on the north and south faces. Though closed
down, the interior of the house glows with diffused daylight through the multiple layers of greenhouse closure. In the colder seasons – fall through early spring – the open-closed aspect of the house adjusts to the changing weather. Throughout the year, this house engages directly and intimately with the weather.
Collaborator: Timothy Stenson Illustrations: Erdy McHenry Architecture, LLC
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Grid House Moto Design Shop The Grid House was designed specifically to address and propose a solution to the issue of off-street parking in an urban environment. Philadelphia’s residential neighborhoods are typically composed of row houses, often between 16 to 18 feet wide. To accommodate parking in this condition, the traditional solution has been to add a street-facing garage to the ground level. As many Jacobs-educated planners would
agree, this devastates street life as a the garage severs all pedestrian interaction and eliminates “eyes on the street.” The Grid House proposes a solution to accommodate a care while enhancing the home’s interaction at street level. In the Grid House’s solution, the façade maintains a two-level car lift and deployable wood screens animation the building’s façade. The lower level of the lift serves as the car platform while the upper level of the lift contains a planted garden/lawn. When lowered, the car moves to the cellar allowing the ground level to be reclaimed with a front lawn/garden space, giving back open green space to the street level. When raised, the car returns to street level and the garden connects to the second floor master bath/spa. Just inside the lift area, glass partitions fold away creating an open breezeway
between the front and rear gardens. The wooden privacy screens can be deployed at either level allowing the home owner to create a private spa experience upstairs or an open first-floor living space.
Owner/Developer: Field 4 LLC Illustrations: Roman Torres
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Stevens Institute Center for Engineering and Science Innovation Wallace Roberts & Todd, LLC
In 2008, Wallace Roberts & Todd began working on the Stevens Institute of Technology campus in Hoboken, NJ, preparing a master plan for its hilltop campus overlooking Manhattan and the Hudson River. In the course of the firm’s investigations, the institute asked that the
firm develop a particular building, the Center for Engineering and Science Innovation, as Phase One of its ambitious plan to transform a largely post-war campus into a vibrant place, taking full advantage of its remarkable setting. Until the 1970s, the Steven’s campus –
historically known as Castle Point – was hemmed in by a series of large industrial piers that were the setting of the great American film On the Waterfront. As a result, the campus has largely turned its back on this comparable edge, leaving a great opportunity to rethink the campus and its public profile hidden in a series of surface parking lots and forgotten infrastructure. Over the next 20 years, the firm hopes to turn the campus inside out, creating a long, linear green space that starts at the CESI and extends north for nearly one half mile. In this regard, the CESI is not only a laboratory and faculty space, but also a gateway and the beginning of a great city park. Owner/Developer: Stevens Institute of Technology Civil Engineer: Remington & Vernick Engineers, Inc. Illustrations: Wallace Roberts & Todd, LLC
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International Plaza Building Two – Wall Element Tantillo Architecture LLC
The project is an interior renovation of the public areas in one of a pair of existing sixstory office buildings located on a truncated triangular parcel. The site is bounded by Philadelphia International Airport’s main runway to the south and its International Terminal to the east and interstate 95 to
the north. The two buildings are arranged in an “L” configuration with their lobbies linked via and east-west running one-story glass-enclosed walkway. A north-south running internal hallway joins this lobby with Building Two’s main entry lobby. The project goals sought to improve the wayfiding and circulation through the link and Building Two and bring a new image to the
public spaces and elevator lobbies. The architects seized on the proximity of the project to the airport to bring an identity of movement delineated by fluid architectural forms and finishes punctuated by rectilinear nodes of interest. We utilized simple materials (drywall, MDF, steel) to create walls that reshape the interior into dynamically connected spaces that flow effortlessly along a clear route. Two new walls are the
primary elements which activate and define the first floor lobbies and proved multiple readings on the qualities of “wallness.” Owner/Developer: Amerimar Enterprises, Inc. Art Consultant: Madison Art Consulting General Contractor: Sullivan Company Photographer: Jeffrey Totaro Photographer
Always by Design
Halkin Photography LLC
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exhibitors
Tom Crane Photography
Ballinger Armstrong Medical Education Building
Bernardon Haber Holloway Architects PC Dansko Office and Retail Center
Brett Webber Architects Oyster House
Burns Morrissey Architecture and Design Good Food Market
Burt Hill
Bates Photography
BLT Architects Two Three and Four Center Street
Halkin Photography LLC
Sam Oberter Photography
Archer Buchanan Architecture Gladwyne Residence
Always by Design Thirteen 01 Restaurant and Club
Tom Crane Photography
Alvin Holm, AIA Architects Chapel of St. John the Evangelist
Tom Crane Photography
Agoos/Lovera Architects British Airways
Burt Hill Delaware County Community College STEM Complex
Cara Carroccia, Architects Horton Residence
Casaccio Architects St. Joseph’s Preparatory School, Jesuit Hall and Sauter Dining Hall
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Matt Wargo Architectural Photographer
Glaserworks
George L. Claflen, Jr.
exhibitors
CLR Design Harold C. Schott Education Center at Cincinnati Zoo
Cope Linder Architects Midtown Crossing at Turner Park
Corporate Catalyst Partners Parente Randolph, LLC
Converse Winkler Architecture Forrest Primary Education Center
Halkin Photography LLC
Francis Cauffman Atlantic Health – Gagnon Cardiovascular Institute
EwingCole Giants Training Facility
Don Pearse Photographers, Inc.
DIGSAU Sister Cities Pavilion and Garden
Halkin Photography LLC
Daroff Design Inc. + DDI Architects, PC Comcast Corporate Headquarters
Daley + Jalboot Architects Kappen Aquatic Center
Halkin Photography LLC
DIGSAU
Peter Paige
Tom Crane Photography
Claflen Associates, Architects and Planners Common Ground
Granary Associates Granary Associates’ Corporate Headquarters
Hooper Shiles Architects The Bala House Montessori School at the Church of Saint Asaph
Mark Henniger
James Bradberry Architects Barn Renovation
Halkin Photography LLC
Matt Wargo Architectural Photographer
Interface Studio Architects Diamond Green
KCBA Architects Bucks County Community College, Lower Buck Campus
Kimmel Bogrette Architecture + Site Louis J. Esposito Dining Court, Temple University
KlingStubbins Digitas Health World Headquarters
Krieger + Associates Architects Feldman Frank Residence
KSS Architects Cornell University Tower Restoration
MGA Partners, Architects The Hoffman Studio and Gallery, Radnor, PA
Point B Design D Gallery
Halkin Photography LLC
Halkin Photography LLC
Jeffrey Totaro Photographer
Jeffrey Totaro Photographer
John Milner Architects Nemours Mansion & Gardens Restoration
JKR Partners Regal Cinemas at the Arches in Deer Park
Jeffrey Totaro Photographer
ISA
Matt Wargo Architectural Photographer
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exhibitors
Richard M. Cole and Associates Library Addition in Lower Merion
SMP Architects New Kensington Creative and Performing Arts High School
Space Design Incorporated New York Foundation - Reception Area
David Schrott
Stanev Potts Architects
Sam Oberter Photography
Saylor Gregg Architects Zoological Society of Philadelphia, McNeil Avian Center
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Tom Crane Photography
SMP Architects
Tom Crane Photography
exhibitors
Stokes Architecture Seamans Church Institute Chapel
UCI Architects The Renovation of the Ben Franklin Building
UJMN Architects + Designers Science Center Offices and Research Laboratories
Tackett & Company G Lounge
Wulff Architects
Jeffrey Totaro Photographer
Paul Bartholomew
Matt Wargo Architectural Photographer
Stanev Potts Architects Cove House
Voith & Mactavish Architects Bryn Mawr Film Institute
Wulff Architects The Army Experience Center
Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates Episcopal Academy Chapel
Center for Architecture 1218 Arch St, Philadelphia, PA 19107 215.569.3186 | www.philadelphiacfa.org Hours: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday to Saturday 12 to 5 p.m. Sunday 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 hands-on 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 lec-
ture 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.
Louis I. Kahn Memorial Lecture Presented by the Center for Architecture
On May 12, 2009, Thom Mayne, FAIA, presented the 2009 Louis I. Kahn Memorial Lecture, W.I.P. #175, at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. Thom Mayne founded Morphosis in 1972 as an interdisciplinary and collective practice involved in experimental design and research. The Los Angeles-based firm currently employs over 60 architects and designers. Recent award winning projects include the San Francisco Federal Building, the Wayne L. Morse United States Courthouse, the University of Cincinnati Student Recreation Center, Hypo Bank in Udine, Italy, and Social Housing in Madrid, Spain. Projects on the boards and/or in construction include the Phare Tower in Paris, the Mayne was born in 1944. He received his Bachelor of Architecture degree from the University of Southern California in 1968 and his Master of Architecture from Harvard University in 1978. Throughout his career, he has remained active in the academic world. He was a co-founder of the influential Southern California Institute of Architecture and currently holds a tenured professorship at the UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture. He has also taught at Columbia, the Berlage Institute in the Netherlands, the Bartlett School of Architecture in London, Yale (the Eliel Saarinen Chair in 1991), and the Harvard Graduate
Museum of Nature and Science in Dallas, the Giant Group Campus in Shanghai, the New Academic Building for the Cooper Union in New York, and the Cahill Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics in Pasadena. With projects worldwide, the firm’s work encompasses a wide range of project types and scales including residential, institutional, and civic buildings as well as large urban planning projects such as the winning proposal for the NYC2012 Olympic Village and the widely recognized urban research initiative, LA Now. Mayne’s distinguished honors include the Pritzker Prize in 2005, the McDowell Medal in 2008, the 2006 National Design Award from the Cooper Hewitt, the Rome Prize in 1987, the Alumni of the Year award from USC, invitation to membership in the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1992, and the 2000 American Institute of Architects/Los Angeles Gold Medal in Architecture. With Morphosis, Thom Mayne has been the recipient of 25 Progressive Architecture Awards, 70 American Institute of Architects Awards and numerous other design recognitions. Under Mayne’s direction, the firm has been the subject of various group and solo exhibitions throughout the world.
School of Design (Eliot Noyes Chair in 1998).
Sponsors: Diener Brick Company University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology
Left: Madrid Public Housing Top: Albert Nerken School of Engineering at the Cooper Union Above: Wayne Lyman Morse United States Courthouse, Eugene, OR
Design on the Delaware
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 2009 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. Design on the Delaware offers many programs in six tracks: Practice
American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers, Phila Chapter American Society of Landscape Architects Pennsylvania Delaware 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 Greater Philadelphia Building Professionals Association Illuminating Engineers Society Industrial Designers Society of America Innovation Philadelphia International Interior Design Association Pennsylvania Planning Association Phila National Organizaton of Minority Architects Society for Environmental Graphic Design Urban Land Institute, Philadelphia Chapter
Sponsors O’Donnell & Naccarato, Inc. Keast & Hood Co. Lutron Langan Engineering & Environmental Services Daniel J. Keating Company IMS Audio Visual, Inc. Organic Grid Visual Exploration EP Henry Stradley Ronon Attorneys at Law Management, Community/Urban Design, Green/LEED, Design, Technology, and Tours. Keynote speakers were Alan Greenberger, FAIA, executive director of the Philadelphia City Planning Commission, George Hawkins, Esq., director of Washington, DC’s Department of the Environment, and Eugenie Birch, FAICP, the Laurence C. Nussdorf Professor of Urban Research and Education and Chair of the Graduate Group in City and Regional Planning at the University of Pennsylvania. Collaborating organizations: AIA Bucks County AIA Central PA AIA Delaware AIA Eastern PA AIA New Jersey AIA Philadelphia American Institute of Graphic Arts AIGA
Exhibitors: AEC Infosystems/Fetter consulting AIA Bookstore & Design Center Architec360 ASSA ABLOY AZEK Building Products Barry Halkin Photography BEAM, ltd Biddle & Company Insurance Brokers Bostock Company CADapult Certainteed Corporation Church Brick Company Consolidated Brick Crestron Custom Building Products Dan Lepore & Sons Company Delaware Flooring Re:Source/FreeAxez USA EP Henry Corporation
FSB General Building Contractors Association Graphisoft Hearthstone, Inc Hoishik Hugh Lofting Timber Framing, Inc. IMS Audio Visual JE Berkowitz, LP Kohler LaSalle Engineering Lehigh White Cement Lutron MacIntosh Engineering MechoShade Systems, Inc. Microsol Resources Modernfold/Styles, Inc. New Holland Church Furniture New Holland Concrete NRI Pella Window & Door Company Philips Color Kinetics Prime Design Archtitectural Millwork
Quintek Corporation Roehrs + Company Rolf Jensen Associates Rulon Company S + S Resources Set-Rite Overhead Doors & Dock Equipment Shildan SimpleHome Skanska USA Building, Inc. Stone Source Trenwyth Industries Unilock Wise Preservation Planning LLC Wissahickon Stone Quarry AEC Infosystems/Fetter consulting AIA Bookstore & Design Center Architec360 ASSA ABLOY AZEK Building Products Barry Halkin Photography BEAM, ltd Biddle & Company Insurance Brokers Bostock Company CADapult Certainteed Corporation Church Brick Company Consolidated Brick Crestron Custom Building Products Dan Lepore & Sons Company
Delaware Flooring Re:Source/FreeAxez USA EP Henry Corporation FSB General Building Contractors Association Graphisoft
Hearthstone, Inc Hoishik Hugh Lofting Timber Framing, Inc. IMS Audio Visual JE Berkowitz, LP Kohler LaSalle Engineering Lehigh White Cement Lutron MacIntosh Engineering MechoShade Systems, Inc.
Canstruction® Sponsored by the Associates Committee
Halkin Photography LLC
Halkin Photography LLC
Canstruction® 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. 2009 was the third year in which teams of architects, engineers, contractors, and designers are tasked with creating structures with nothing more than canned food and ingenuity in Philadelphia. Canstruction® puts a spotlight on hunger while showcasing the best and brightest of the Philadelphia-area design community. 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.
2009 Canstruction® Committee Angel M. Davis, Co-Chair Adam LeGrand, Co-Chair Ryan Andrulewich Nick Grock April Mathis Brandon Sargent Jaime Smith Cassidy Touhill Bud Wilson Ryan Yockus
ASCE – Young Members Forum Bohlin Cywinski Jackson Charles Matsinger Associates EwingCole Fluor Corporation Gilbane Building Company Mainstay Engineering Group, Inc. PZS Architects, LLC Spiezle Architectural Group, Inc. SVT, Inc. Timothy Haahs and Associates URS Corporation Venturi, Scott Brown & Associates
2009 Canstruction® Teams
Sponsors Lasership Above: Canundrum, Venturi, Scott Brown & Associates Top: I Think I CAN, PZS Architects, LLC Right: Three Square Meals, EwingCole
Halkin Photography LLC
Church Brick Ballinger Agoos/Lovera Architects ArcCom Atlas Carpets BBLM Four Seasons Hotel New Holland Concrete Shaw
The Charter High School For Architecture + 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, Assistant Head of School Stephanie Schoening, Michael Connor, Director of Student Life Miguel Vazquez, Director of College Placement Courtnay Tyus, Executive Director of Designing Futures Foundation 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
Community Design Collaborative 215.587.9290 | www.cdesignc.org Strengthening neighborhoods through design
The Community Design Collaborative is a community design center that provides pro bono predevelopment design services to nonprofit organizations, offers unique volunteer opportunities for design professionals, and raises awareness about the importance of design in community revitalization.
The Collaborative connects local nonprofits with its network of volunteer architects, planners, landscape architects, engineers, cost estimators, and other design professionals. Early design assistance helps local nonprofits leverage their limited resources, engage the community, effi-
ciently plan for development projects, and present tangible, visual documents to stakeholders and funders. The Collaborative supports greater Philadelphia nonprofits and neighborhoods through its early design assistance programs. Service grants provide up to 30 nonprofits each year with a package of design products tailored to their specific needs. rStore connects businesses and store owners with design professionals to envision and plan exterior improvements that will contribute to the revitalization of neighborhood commercial corridors. Infill Philadelphia develops workable, innovative design solutions for urban infill development, a significant revitalization strategy for Philadelphia and other older American cities.
BUILDING ON 300 YEARS... by Christina Long Illustrations, Simon Tickell, AIA
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
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.
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.
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
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
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.