CONTEXT - Fall 2016

FALL 2016

INFRASTRUCTURE MATTERS Mayor Kenney’s Vision for Philadelphia The Reading Viaduct Rail Park The Complete Streets Movement

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Fall 2016 – IN THIS ISSUE We dig into the concerns facing the Nation’s crumbling infrastructure and explore their impact on a 21st century Philadelphia.

FEATURES 12

Mayor Kenney’s Infrastructure Policy An inside look at Mayor Kenney’s vision for a smarter, greener, better Philadelphia.

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DEPARTMENTS

Green Infrastructure in Philadelphia: The Reading Viaduct Rail Park Is the Reading Viaduct Rail Park the next great Philadelphia square?

5 EDITORS’ LETTER 6 COMMUNITY 10 UP CLOSE 28 EXPRESSION 30 DESIGN PROFILES 37 MARKETPLACE 38 INDEX TO ADVERTISERS

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Streets: They’re Not Just for Cars Any More Communities in the Delaware Valley and across the nation are embracing the Complete Streets initiative.

CONTEXT is published by

5950 NW 1st Place, Gainesville, FL 32607 (800) 369-6220, www.naylor.com.

Publisher Tom Schell, Group Publisher Jack Eller, Sales and Project Manager David Freeman, Editor Ann DeLage, Marketing Nancy Taylor, Book Leader Krys D’Antonio, Designer GK DS, Account Representatives Lou Brandow, Anook Commandeur, Ralph Herzberg, Nicholas Manis, Phillip Maxwell, Chris Zabel, Brian Zeig

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Infrastructure: Important Thoughts and Application to Regional Projects Infrastructure as a catalyst for economic growth.

The opinions expressed in this – or the representations made by advertisers, including copyrights and warranties, are not those of the editorial staff, publisher, AIA Philadelphia, or AIA Philadelphia’s Board of Directors. All rights reserved.

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Published OCTOBER 2016/AIP-Q0316/3615

AIA Philadelphia | context | FALL 2016 3

2016 BOARD OF DIRECTORS

My Vision...

Denise Thompson, AIA, President Frank Grauman, FAIA, President-Elect

is to enhance a home’s historical beauty with updated living spaces.

Troy Hannigan, Assoc. AIA, Treasurer James W. Rowe, AIA, Past President | Secretary Karen Blanchard, AIA, Chapter Director Kiki Bolender, AIA, Chapter Director Kira Broecker, AIA, Chapter Director Jeffrey Krieger, AIA, Chapter Director Brian Szymanik, AIA, Chapter Director Kelly Vresilovic, AIA, LEED AP, Chapter Director Alesa Rubendall, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, Chapter Director Catherine (Katie) Broh, AIA, LEED AP, Chapter Director Paul Avazier, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, NCARB, Chapter Director John B Campbell, AIA, ARIAS, RIBA, LEED AP, Chapter Director Jeff Pastva, AIA, AIA PA Director Robert C. Kelly, AIA, AIA PA Director

Kolbe’s capacity to provide multiple types and styles of windows allowed us to transform the antiquated spaces of this historical home into light-filled rooms that are the focus of family life.

Jared Edgar McKnight, Assoc. AIA, Associate Director

– Spence Kass, AIA | Kass & Associates | Philadelphia, PA

CONTEXT EDITORIAL BOARD

Michael J. Fierle, Assoc. AIA, Associate Director Tya Winn, Public Member Rebecca Johnson, Executive Director

Bringing your vision to life takes a higher level of creativity and expertise – who you choose matters. Contact our experts for a personal design consultation.

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CO-CHAIRS Harris M. Steinberg, FAIA, Drexel University Todd Woodward, AIA, SMP Architects

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BOARD MEMBERS Wolfram Arendt, AIA, Bohlin Cywinski Jackson William W. Braham, Ph.D., FAIA, University of Pennsylvania David Brownlee, Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania Jon Coddington, AIA, Drexel University Susan Miller Davis, AIA Sally Harrison, AIA, Temple University

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19/09/16 2:41 PMTim Kerner, AIA, Terra Studio

Elizabeth Miller, Community Design Collaborative Stephen P. Mullin, Econsult Corporation Rashida Ng, RA, Temple University Jeff Pastva, AIA, JDavis Architects Richard Roark, ASLA, Olin Rachel Simmons Schade, AIA, Drexel University David Zaiser, AIA, WRA

STAFF Rebecca Johnson, AIA Philadelphia Executive Director Elizabeth Paul, Managing Editor Laurie Churchman, Designlore, Art Director

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FALL 2016 | context | AIA Philadelphia

EDITOR’S LETTER

BY STEPHEN P. MULLIN AND DAVID ZAISER, AIA

PHOTO: KAZI M. HASSAN

Building a 21st Century Philadelphia

Properly maintaining, expanding, and upgrading our nation’s physical infrastructure is a necessary ingredient for increasing productivity and growing living standards. Conventional wisdom holds that the U.S. is not properly maintaining or upgrading our basic infrastructure. The 2013 report card issued by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) gave the U.S. a grade of D+ for the overall condition of U.S. schools, public buildings, roads, bridges, ports, water, wastewater, levees, energy, transit, rail, waterways, aviation, solid and hazardous waste, and dams; up only slightly from a grade of D in 2009.

Much of our basic infrastructure is past its useful life. It’s been 60 years since the signing of the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956 – the legislation that famously created the interstate highway system – but funds to maintain this system have not kept up with needed repairs and upgrades. Our highways are not the only example. Bridges, transit systems, rail, water, ports, and sewer systems, our electric grid, and even our air-traffic control systems suffer from suboptimal reinvestment.

While certain high-profile infrastructure failures capture our attention and generate consternation and plenty of hot air, the concern dissipates rapidly and typically without much structural improvement. These big stories grab attention, but the real infrastructure problems are far broader and their impacts are stealthier. By its very nature, investment in physical infrastructure is not very sexy, and besides immediate construction employment, its benefits come well into the future. As a result, public reinvestment lags since public spending generating immediate benefits garner political attention and crowd out potential infrastructure investment funds.

We can no longer afford to turn a blind eye to these needs, but can we afford to do what needs to be done? According to the ASCE 2013, the overall cost to repair and upgrade these essential systems is estimated to be $3.6 trillion by 2020 – requiring a significantly greater portion of our GDP than has been allocated to infrastructure in recent decades.

We may not be able to avoid these costs, but we still have choices. We can spend our infrastructure dollars recreating a 20th century infrastructure of the past, or we can use them to create a 21st century infrastructure for the next 50 years – an infrastructure focused on renewable resources, sustainable practices and better lives for all of us. Design professionals are already taking the lead in re-imagining what this 21st century infrastructure can be. These design professionals along with engineers are figuring out how to develop infrastructure that costs less to build, generates greater efficiency benefits, and lasts longer. In this issue we consider not only the benefits inherent in improving our infrastructure here in Philadelphia, but also how our infrastructure of the past can be re-purposed to serve our new mission. We hope you enjoy it. ■ Stephen Mullin is President and Principal of Econsult Solutions, an economic consulting firm based in Philadelphia. His 16 year consulting practice concentrates on state and public finance and policy analysis, economic and real estate development and impact analyses, and business-government strategies.

David Zaiser is an Associate at Whitman Requardt and Associates LLP specializing in the planning and design of college and university facilities for the firm’s Building Design Group.

AIA Philadelphia | context | FALL 2016 5

COMMUNITY Dear Friends and Colleagues, As the flurry of fall events surrounds us and fills up our calendars, I encourage you to make time for the Design on the Delaware Conference, November 9-12, 2016. New this year is that we will be hosting exhibitors, breakfast, lunch, Opening Reception, and a special Emerging Professionals Track at the Center for Architecture and Design.

We will still host our keynote speakers and educational seminars across the street at the Convention Center – but the Center for Architecture and Design will be an integral part of the Conference this year.

“What is the relationship between AIA Philadelphia and the Center for Architecture and Design?” This question is posed to me at least once a week, and when it is I pull out a piece of paper and pen and proceed to draw the following Venn diagram.

Increase Awareness About Architecture

CFAD

AIA Given that there seems to be a lot of confusion about this topic, I thought it would be appropriate to clarify information and to share our vision for the future of both organizations. AIA Philadelphia has its own board made up entirely of AIA members and one public (non-AIA) member. AIA Philadelphia is generally focused on our members and how to best provide them with the benefits and services most useful in their practice. Our members communicate about many services that have an impact on their businesses, but overwhelmingly they tell us that helping to increase public awareness about the value and relevance of architecture is the most important thing AIA can do for them.

Increasing public awareness about the value and relevance of architecture is where the missions between AIA Philadelphia and the Center for Architecture and Design are wholly aligned – the overlap in the Venn Diagram. The Center for Architecture and Design is focused on the public, versus only focused on AIA members.

The Center was initially created as the charitable “arm” of the AIA. It is a 501(c) (3) organization and has more fundraising opportunities available to it versus a 501(c) (6) trade association like the AIA. It also has a diverse Board of Directors, expanding beyond just AIA members or architects, but other design professionals and built environment enthusiasts. However, through the vision and leadership of my predecessor and both organization’s Boards, the Center is poised for growth and has expanded its programming as a result, most notably with the DesignPhiladelphia festival.

In 2017, the Boards of AIA Philadelphia and the Center for Architecture and Design will be working independently and collaboratively on their respective strategic plans for 2018-2022. The current joint strategic plan has mostly been accomplished, and both Boards of Directors are looking at how the two organizations want to collaborate and how they want to expand their respective programs independently. We are looking forward to the future and excited to see where our planning leads us.

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FALL 2016 | context | AIA Philadelphia

Design on the Delaware at NeoCon East will offer 36 programs, up to 15 tours, and 3 general sessions. In addition to the general sessions listed below, we are once again partnering with NeoCon East – boasting more than 200 companies on the tradeshow floor and keynote sessions by Marc Kushner, HWKN partner and Architizer founder and Ayse Birsel of Birsel + Seck.

Design on the Delaware General Sessions: Robin Guenther, FAIA, LEED Fellow worksz at the intersection of healthcare architecture, health and sustainable policy and participates in a wide range of leading edge advocacy initiatives while continuing to practice. Healthcare Design magazine named her the “#1 Most Influential Designer in Healthcare” in 2010 and 2011.

Howard Neukrug, PE, BCEE, Hon. D. WRE is a national expert, lecturer and inspirational leader in integrated water systems; urban planning and sustainability; utility operations; water policy; and green infrastructure.

He is the creator of Philadelphia’s $2.5 Billion “Green City, Clean Waters” program which has revolutionized how American cities approach land and water management for sustainability and resiliency.

Architectural and Engineering Ethics is a panel led discussion providing an overview and introduction to architectural and engineering ethics. It will cover state registration and licensing laws as well as conflict of interest, pay to play, and case-study discussions.

COMMUNITY Pennsylvania Convention Center & Center for Architecture and Design November 9-12, 2016 WEDNESDAY

THURSDAY

FRIDAY

SATURDAY

Keynote Speaker

Keynote Speaker

Tours

Emerging Professional’s Track

Howard Neukrug, PE, BCEE, Hon. D. WRE, Principal at CASE Environmental, LLC and Senior Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania

Robin Gueuther, FAIA, LEED AP, Principal of Perkins+Will, Senior Advisor to Health Care Without Harm

Littlest Streets of Philadelphia

Breakfast Panel: Thriving, not just Surviving in the Profession

Continuing Education Tracks

The Transformation of Dilworth Park and City Hall Subway Stations

Continuing Education Tracks

Adaptive Reuse Track Community Design Track Energy/Environment Track Design Track Architectural & Engineering Panel Discussion

Technical Track Community Design Track Educational Track Practice Management Tours

Tours

Creating a Catalyst on Campus: Innovation Plaza Lord Norman Foster’s Cutting Edge Comcast Innovation Tower Philadelphia Community Health and Literacy Center Tour of One of the Largest Cemeteries Under Restoration: Mt. Moriah Cemetery

LEED Platinum and Ongoing Energy Efficiency Second City Building Community Paseo Verde

Of Piers and Viaducts: Spontaneous Nature in the City

Delaware River Trail Parks and Piers Tour

NCARB & You: AXP, ARE, & Certification Lunch Break Optional: Speed Mentoring Construction 101 What’s Next in Tech?

Tour Information Additional tours to be announced for Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday!

All tours on Wednesday and Thursday will leave from the Convention Center All tours on Friday will leave from the Center for Architecture and Design

2016 Registration Options Full Conference Wednesday Day Pass Thursday Day Pass Emerging Professional’s Track Individual Tours & Programs

Register online at www.aiaphiladelphia.org/registration

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COMMUNITY PHOTO: CHRIS KENDIG

“THE REAL WINNERS TONIGHT ARE OUR CHILDREN AND YOUTH. WE HAVE THE IDEAS, AND WE HAVE AN ENGAGED COMMUNITY. NOW WE NEED TO CHAMPION THE SUPPORT AND FUNDING.” Sharon Easterling, DVAEYC

executive

director

of

Atkin Olshin Schade Architects, Meliora Environmental Design LLC, Viridian Landscape Studio, International Consultants, Inc., and The Parent-Infant Center teamed up to design a stimulating play space for Haverford Bright Futures, a School District of Philadelphia preschool program.

An enthusiastic crowd gathered to see the nine finalists of the Play Space Design Competition last spring.

Each finalist team—chosen from among 40 inspiring entries—was charged with delivering their concept for an innovative Philadelphia play space in a cool seven minutes.

The design competition was the centerpiece of Play Space, a partnership between the Community Design Collaborative and the Delaware Valley Association for the Education of Young Children (DVAEYC) to explore the ways that innovative play space can help both children and communities grow.

Over the past year, the Collaborative and DVAEYC hosted a design precedent exhibition, design charrette, community design-build project, and a series of play talks. The capstone of Play Space was a design competition to reimagine play spaces for a Philadelphia public library, recreation center, and school. Three $10,000 prizes were offered, one for each competition site.

The exploration couldn’t have come at a better time. The City of Philadelphia is embarking on Rebuilding Community Infrastructure, a bold initiative to reinvest in neighborhood libraries, schools, parks, and recreation centers.

The City’s immediate goal is expand access to quality Pre-K education and repair and enhance neighborhood public spaces and, ultimately, 8

FALL 2016 | context | AIA Philadelphia

ensure that all of Philadelphia’s children are healthy, ready to learn, and nurtured by their families and communities.

At the awards event, Michael DiBerardinis, Managing Director of the City of Philadelphia and a long-time advocate for Philadelphia’s parks and playgrounds, underscored the value of these spaces to the city, “This competition lifts up the idea that we can recreate city spaces… and gives people a place to dream, to love, to learn a sport, to move communities together.”

“Tonight, we are here to celebrate where design comes into play,” said Beth Miller, Executive Director of the Community Design Collaborative. “The power of play space in the community and its impact on early childhood development is an issue facing all cities.”

Lots of hard work (and play, we hope) went into all 40 entries in the competition, representing collaborations between designers and educators from five countries (the United States, Canada, China, Germany, and Poland) and eleven states in the U.S. Nine finalists and the three ultimate winners emerged from a rigorous judging process that included reviews by two juries and community feedback. Experts in education, policy, and design to weigh in as well as children and communities, the ultimate users of these play spaces. One winning entry was selected for each competition site.

Innovative play spaces can create kids who are healthy, ready to learn, and nurtured by their families and communities.

“The real winners tonight are our children and youth,” said Sharon Easterling, executive director of DVAEYC. “We have the ideas, and we have an engaged community. Now we need to champion the support and funding necessary for Philadelphia’s nonprofit and public sector implementers to bring innovative play space to every neighborhood in Philadelphia.” ■ Join us for Where Design Comes Into Play, a special exhibition at Philadelphia City Hall from October 6 through December 2, 2016. Details at www.cdesignc.org.

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AIA Philadelphia | context | FALL04/10/16 2016 6:56 9 pm

Barry Seymour: Helping the Region Get What It Needs

BY BENEDICTE CLOUET AND LAUREN BAUMAN

10 FALL 2016 | context | AIA Philadelphia

UP CLOSE

Efficient transport plays a vital role in improving our quality of life and building a strong economy. As more people modify their travel habits by choosing alternative transit modes, infrastructure must adapt as well. To better understand the changing transportation infrastructure landscape in the Philadelphia region, we talked with Barry Seymour, Executive Director of the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC), whose influence is seen in many projects that are shaping the future of the region’s transportation network.

Over the past twenty-five years of his tenure at DVRPC, Barry has supported decisive infrastructure planning and organized major projects, especially this past decade as Executive Director. Overseeing nine counties across Pennsylvania and New Jersey, composed of 352 local governments, he is charged with the responsibility to empower the region to craft and implement a vision crystallized in Connections 2040, the long-range plan for the future growth and development of the region.

This is no small feat. Along with assisting local government and regional infrastructure planning, he coordinates conversations between the organizations with responsibility for regional transportation – including PennDOT, NJDOT, SEPTA, NJT, AMTRAK, PATCO, DRPA – all of which have different priorities and motivations. With so many players at the table, his role is to understand these priorities and support impactful projects, while recognizing, and effectively communicating, funding limitations, or as Barry put it himself, “that you can’t always get what you want, but you can get what you need.”

Much of our transportation infrastructure, historically among the most extensive and advanced in the nation, is now reaching the end of its lifespan, and the question of its maintenance or replacement has become critical. However, don’t think that Philadelphia is simply falling behind while cities like Denver and Los Angeles are unveiling brand new systems. “All they are trying to do is play catch up with us,” argues Barry, “from their perspective, we are light-years ahead of where they are.” With that being said, it’s a fact that our transit infrastructure is aging and requires investment to bring it up to the state of good repair and takes greater funds to maintain it into the future. DVRPC’s funding and resource allocations is a testament to the gravity of this issue: With over $1 billion spent each year on infrastructure, around 75% of that spending is on maintenance.

While the bulk of Barry’s energy goes into “state of repair” projects, he acknowledges the necessity to invest in the future. To deliver on the increasing demand for efficient transportation capacity and support growth and economic development, there are grand plans to extend SEPTA services throughout the Philadelphia region. Planning is underway to have trains reach out to King of Prussia, as well as expansions in Bucks County and West Chester. Similarly, DVRPC has mapped out a new train service for the disconnected Navy Yard. But you can’t think about the future without discussing sustainable development. Even though DVRPC is transit focused, they work on green infrastructure projects, such as open space protection initiatives, green streets, transit, bicycle, and pedestrian planning, as well as programs in food system planning, smart growth, energy efficiency, and climate change.

When asking him what he sees as the greatest development since his start at DVRPC, it was surprising to hear that it had nothing to do with big infrastructure projects, but funding. In a region infamous for its underfunded transportation infrastructure, Barry has made a point in his career to find ways to close the funding gap. He instituted the Transportation and Community Development Initiative (TCDI): a planning grant to support smart growth of individual municipalities by providing funding for local initiatives. Through TCDI, DVRPC offers the needed assistance to smaller localities to support their infrastructure visions within the larger framework of Connections 2040. “That connection wasn’t there before,” explains Barry, “while [DVRPC] can plan and work with partners on larger-scale projects, most of transportation network is actually at the local level.” Since the program began in 2002, $16 million has been distributed to over 230 communities across the region. Barry highlighted one of many significant projects from TCDI. “We created a system of trails across the region called The Circuit, which will be a 750 mile network of interconnected trails. This is not built all at once or by just one entity. Ultimately it is built by dozens, if not hundreds, of different organizations and groups. What we can do at a regional scale is to define that vision and direct funding to projects that will build a larger network over time.”

But a real game-changer, he says, was the passage in 2013 of Act 89 in Pennsylvania, which dedicates a significant long-term and stable increase in funding to transportation infrastructure. The addition of the $2.3 billion per year provided much needed relief to regional transportation providers, like PennDOT and SEPTA, who had a backlog of billions of dollars worth of transit maintenance and enhancement projects. Barry explains, “For many years SEPTA was struggling just to manage what they had. But now for the first time, they’re able to plan for new services and add extensions, which will have an enormous impact on the region over time.” Although new projects and initiatives may make headlines, Barry sees changes in infrastructure funding to be the most critical change to happen to the region.

Although Barry is responsible for listening to many voices, prioritizing initiatives, and creating region-wide infrastructure plans, he is quick to dismiss the idea that he is the sole guardian of the region’s transportation network. His greatest duty, though, is not just developing the grander vision, but making sure we can pay for it. He understands how critical the maintenance and further development of our region’s transportation infrastructure is and has dedicated his career to it. “At the end of the day, [transportation infrastructure] is a public good that needs to be paid for. Whether we pay for it through taxes or fees, the only way we’ll have a first-class transportation network is by paying for it.” ■ Benedicte Clouet is the Director of Business Development at Econsult Solutions.

Lauren Bauman is a student at Drexel University studying Global Studies with a focus in International Business and Economics and a member of the ESI Intern Association.

AIA Philadelphia | context | FALL 2016 11

MAYOR KENNEY’S INFRASTRUCTURE POLICY Columbus Square rain garden

BY NICOLE WESTERMAN PHOTO: PHILADELPHIA WATER DEPARTMENT

12 FALL 2016 | context | AIA Philadelphia

Infrastructure figured prominently in Mayor Kenney’s first budget address, from desperately needed facility improvements like roof replacements to “complete streets” projects to improve pedestrian safety. But the Mayor quickly pointed out that these improvements alone will not solve Philadelphia’s most important challenges. These challenges include: • Two-thirds of Philadelphians currently looking for work test at the 4th to 8th grade level in reading, writing, and math, leaving them largely unable to secure family sustaining jobs.

• Philadelphia has the second highest percentage of work-age residents who are out of the labor force.

• Nearly half of Philadelphians live in what are classified as “distressed” zip codes, where there is high poverty, few people with high school degrees, and marginal if any increase in business activity in recent years.

The Kenney Administration is embarking on historic investments in Philadelphia’s infrastructure. These investments will bring a broad range of benefits, including increased safety, reduced operating costs, and improved sustainability. But the policies behind this change keep our sights fixed firmly on improving the quality of life for Philadelphia residents in every neighborhood. That’s why Mayor Kenney proposed a sweetened beverage tax to pay for expanded quality pre-K, Community Schools, and Rebuilding Community Infrastructure (or “Rebuild”). We know that pre-K will allow more children to be successful in school, leading to better job opportunities, better health, and better neighborhoods. Community Schools will provide children with access to needed medical and social services directly in the school building. Additionally, Rebuild is about more than just taking better care of City properties, although that is important. Rebuild is about making places that positively impact people’s lives.

Philadelphia has a massive network of public infrastructure: over 2,500 miles of streets and 320 bridges. Three water pollution control plants, three drinking water plants, and 6,000 miles of sewers and water mains: 1,100 facilities, 11 million square feet, and 11,000 acres of park land. Under Mayor Kenney, investments will be made in tools and planning to allow smarter decisions about the use and care of these assets. Stormwater management investments will continue, blazing a trail of green across the City and transforming the health of our rivers and creeks. And Rebuild will erase decades of underinvestment in parks, rec centers, and libraries.

Smarter. In the Department of Public Property (DPP), two projects are underway that represent a fundamental shift in asset management in the City. One is the development of an integrated workplace asset management system (IWAMS), a system integrating multiple sources of facility information to facilitate reporting, analysis and decision-making.

IWAMS will combine information from the City’s facilities database, operating and capital budgets, facility energy tracking system, and three separate facility work order systems. The centralized data will help the City fully evaluate the useful life of facilities and building components, like roofs and HVAC systems, and make data-based repair vs. replace decisions. The system will also help the City use space efficiently and track operating costs. Expected to be fully implemented by the end of 2016, IWAMS will allow the City to make better informed real estate, maintenance, and capital investment decisions.

The second project is a public safety facilities master planning process, which kicked off in August 2016. This project builds on granular information about each facility collected by DPP – conditions of structures, roofs, HVAC and electric systems. But the consultant team, led by Hill International, will go far beyond physical facility conditions. Their focus will be: Is this the right facility in the first place? Is it in a location that makes sense now? And, how can a building built 50 to 80 years ago meet the programmatic needs of City departments in the 21st Century?

The consultants will use a broad range of data including call types, response times, and demographic information to answer these questions. The output of this process will be a spending plan for public safety facilities over the next six to eight years. After generations of capital AIA Philadelphia | context | FALL 2016 13

investments driven by deferred maintenance, the near future holds the promise of the right facilities in adequate condition to allow men and women in uniform to perform their jobs safely and to perform them well.

Greener. Philadelphia is among the 800+ communities nationwide that must reduce combined sewer overflows under the Clean Water Act. While many municipalities are building larger sewers and retention tanks to hold excess runoff during storms, Philadelphia has become a national leader in developing an approach that primarily relies on green neighborhood investments that complement and strengthen traditional water infrastructure.

This approach was memorialized in the 2011 plan called Green City, Clean Waters. The goal is to reduce stormwater flow and pollution by adding green infrastructure to streets, sidewalks, roofs, schools, parks, and parking lots in order to slow, filter, and consume rainfall. “Green tools” such as rain gardens and stormwater tree planters manage over 27,000 gallons of runoff per acre from hard surfaces like streets and

parking lots every time an inch of rain falls in the City. In addition to filtering pollutants out of stormwater, green infrastructure sites keep excess water out of Philadelphia’s overburdened sewer system, where overflows can lead to sewage spilling into local waterways. Not only is this approach more affordable and less disruptive than the construction of massive tunnel systems, green infrastructure projects are beautifying neighborhoods, moderating extreme summer temperatures, and creating natural habitats.

This June marked the five-year anniversary of Green City, Clean Waters. As of June 1, 2016, more than 837 “Greened Acres” have been established in the city. These Greened Acres represent a more than 1.5 billion gallon reduction in stormwater runoff and combined sewer overflows during a typical year of rainfall.

Surpassing the five-year goal signals the start of an accelerated period of growth for Green City, Clean Waters; within the next five-year period, the City must achieve 2,148 Greened Acres, reducing overflow

RENDERING: PHILADELPHIA WATER DEPARTMENT

14 FALL 2016 | context | AIA Philadelphia

and runoff volume by more than 2 billion gallons per year in 2021.

Ultimately, implementation of Green City, Clean Waters will reduce runoff and overflow pollution volume by 85 percent from 2011 to 2036 – an overall reduction of nearly 8 billion gallons per year in 25 years.

Better. Rebuild dovetails with DPP’s initiatives and Green City, Clean Waters by making several generations’ worth of improvements in the City’s parks, recreation centers, and libraries. Rebuild is planned to be a $500 million, seven-year capital program funded by $348 million in City funds – including bonds supported by the City’s new sweetened beverage tax – as well as philanthropic funds, private contributions, and state and federal grants.

Investments in these facilities are necessary because of the role we need them to play in community life. For example, Philadelphia recreation centers are the largest after-school care provider in the city and also provide joint programming with City schools. Thousands more students per day attend Free Library Literacy Enrichment Afterschool Programs.

Libraries provide access to the Internet, assistance with job searches, and services to new Americans. These facilities should be clean and functional, but they must be able to support services that help communities thrive and provide opportunities for Philadelphia’s neediest families to improve their quality of life. In neighborhoods where there are more crime, greater poverty, and deeper health problems, investments in parks, rec centers, and libraries are more urgently needed.

Because Philadelphia has over 400 parks, rec centers, and libraries, Rebuild cannot address the needs of the whole system. A planning process funded by the William Penn Foundation and Knight Foundation began with the results of other planning processes, like Philadelphia2035, and created a data-mapping structure to prioritize City neighborhoods with greater needs. This process, led by urban planner Interface Studio, also included an adjacency analysis, identifying other “community assets” close to potential Rebuild sites like schools, PAL centers, Keyspots, and high-quality pre-Ks. Relative proximities revealed opportunities to achieve economies of scale in service delivery, like the new South Philadelphia Community Health and Literacy Center – if the library is right next to your doctor’s office, maybe you’re more likely to stop in after an appointment. That analysis will be combined with information about conditions at specific sites and other information, such as stormwater management opportunities, to select Rebuild sites.

Physical improvements are only one of three components of Rebuild.

The others are community engagement and workforce diversity and inclusion. While Philadelphia departments already collaborate with communities to plan capital projects, Rebuild’s public engagement process will be a vehicle for building capacity in neighborhood groups.

By providing a set of supports like leadership training, programming assistance, website and marketing help, and financial management training, more and better-functioning recreation advisory councils and “Friends of” groups will be in place when Rebuild ends. These groups will not only be empowered to be effective stewards of their improved facilities and use them to the fullest, but to work together on other community priorities.

Rebuild’s workforce diversity and inclusion agenda is based on the premise that a program of this scale offers an unprecedented opportunity to diversify the building trades in Philadelphia and to build the capacity of minority and women-owned construction and professional services firms. Disadvantaged firms will be on contract for multiple years, freeing resources for quality work and capacity-building. Developing construction firms will receive customized technical assistance from construction management firms, as well as cash flow assistance and insurance and bonding support. And the City will partner with the building trades to establish a pre-apprentice program and a pipeline of Philadelphians into sponsored apprenticeship positions, ultimately resulting in a shift that will be visible on job sites and a measurable improvement in employment rates in Philadelphia’s poorest neighborhoods.

Mayor Kenney’s infrastructure policies begin and end with sound planning. The Office of Planning and Development is building on the Philadelphia2035 work initiated under Mayor Nutter to help ensure that investments in parks, rec centers, libraries, police, and fire stations are not just one-offs, but are coordinated and positioned to catalyze privatesector development. The City’s investments may be the stimulus needed for other property owners to battle blight or make their own improvements. Housing is another key piece of the puzzle for Philadelphians who are left out of the current building boom – success in school is harder for kids whose families are homeless or keep moving to find lower-cost housing. The City’s role here is not only planning and coordination, but taking action by capitalizing on limited City resources like under-utilized land. What will ultimately move the needle for Philadelphia’s poorest residents are integrated communities where relationships and resources provide a holistic set of supports.

Still, infrastructure investments within a powerful planning framework won’t be enough to both retain Philadelphians who have choices and provide the resources needed by the more than 26% of Philadelphians living in poverty. Philadelphia needs the regional philanthropic community to follow the lead of the William Penn Foundation in investing in Philadelphia neighborhoods. Philadelphia needs regional institutions and corporate leaders to help enrich community life and leverage funds by partnering on more public-private developments like the Community Health and Literacy Center. And Philadelphia needs private sector developers to act on the ideas that mixed income housing, walkable commercial corridors, and excellent design are not just bureaucratic requirements adding to project expenses, but contribute to a “higher tide” of long-term economic growth. That is Mayor Kenney’s infrastructure policy: that we all work together to improve the quality of life of Philadelphians, in every neighborhood. ■ Nicole Westerman is a consultant who has been assisting with the Rebuild planning process and working with local governments on financial management. Nicole has also held positions with the City of Philadelphia, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and School District of Philadelphia; she has a Government Administration degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor of Architecture from the Rhode Island School of Design.

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GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE IN PHILADELPHIA: The Reading Viaduct Rail Park

BY BRYAN HANES AND TERRA EDENHART-PEPE

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SITE PLAN OF VIADUCT RAIL PARK PHASE 1 The Viaduct Rail Park, Phase One is a linear park comprised of a variety of sequential zones, including the Entrance, the Triangle, the Midspan, and Callowhill Terminus. The SEPTA Spur is approximately the same square footage as the central plaza and gardens at Rittenhouse Square.

Just a few blocks north of the Pennsylvania Convention Center is a neighborhood that claims a handful of appellations as its own: the Eraserhood, the Loft District, Callowhill, and Chinatown North. To get there, walk up Twelfth Street from the convention center, pass over the gash of Interstate 676 and the wide expanse of surface Vine Street, a few parking lots, former warehouse buildings-come-apartments, art galleries, and eating establishments and behold the thick stone arches and catenary structures of the former Reading Viaduct that carried trains into Center City for almost 100 years. In just a block and a half, the whole ethos of the landscape transforms before your eyes, from Center City to Chinatown, to commuter passage, to something unique - The Callowhill neighborhood. Home to young and old, professionals, artists, fabricators, the struggling, the successful, and everyone in-between. It is a neighborhood that reflects the grit and interminability that made this city a powerhouse of the industrial revolution and it is the neighborhood in which the Rail Park’s first phase will be built.

In 2011, the Center City District engaged Studio Bryan Hanes to develop a plan with the local community for the quarter-mile SEPTA Spur, the first phase of the 3-mile Rail Park, which rises above grade from 13th Street east to 11th. As a first step in the design process, the team gathered residents and stakeholders from the surrounding Callowhill and Chinatown neighborhoods to discussion-based meetings where they were invited to express hopes and concerns for the neighborhood and the viaduct’s role within it. The result was a list of priorities for the design, underscored by the desire to maintain material authenticity, local integrity, and visual simplicity. (At the time, our firm was also part of a team working with the Philadelphia City Planning Commission to explore development potential, open space needs and transit accessibility within the neighborhoods, which provided an opportunity to consider the SEPTA Spur in the larger context of this section of the city and the entirety of the proposed Rail Park).

The proposed design builds on the emotion and intuition expressed by the community and their connection to the heritage of the place.

They spoke of solid and durable materials, but also of what we perceived as a residential landscape in a neighborhood of warehouses with no stoop, no backyard, and no picket fence. Thick hunks of wood and steel reflect the scale of the industry that formerly inhabited the space, while programmatic elements such as swings, stoops and porches were conceived of as those missing commonplace touches, presented at a civic scale – the domestic landscape writ large. It is worth noting that the entirety of the elevated portion of the viaduct (north to Fairmount Avenue) is almost the same square footage as Rittenhouse Square. The SEPTA Spur, coincidentally, is nearly the same square footage as the central plaza and gardens of Rittenhouse Square.

From the windows of our studio, we can watch a consistent stream of visitors to the industrial relic and its ankle-breaking stone ballast surface.

Activity on the elevated rail line has been building for years. Though the park has not officially broken ground or opened to the public, guided tours and urban explorers frequent the space, speculating about its potential as a community amenity that crosses through a burgeoning CALLOWHILL-CHINATOWN NORTH STRATEGIC PLAN The plan illustrates a suggestion for much-needed green space in the Callowhill-Chinatown North neighborhood and the location of the Rail Park.

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SPUR, BIRD’S EYE VIEW Programmatically, the design remains simple. A path moves between areas of planting and seating. Four large wooden platforms punctuate the site. Their multi-faceted surfaces create spaces for lounging and gathering. The main walkway culminates in a series of iconic, civic-scale swings which can be seen from the street below.

neighborhood devoid of open, public, green space. The lack of green space has been an impetus for the viaduct’s development, and the laborious process of design and fund-raising has built a rich community of supporters essential to realizing .its transformation into the Rail Park.

The lack of opportunity for new green space is a ubiquitous problem in high-density cities. Large, continuous swaths of land are not often available in an historic urban environment with evolving needs, land uses, and development patterns. As evidenced in this city, new development tends to be driven by the residential market, with supportive commercial or open space uses potentially following. As a result, green infrastructure development is built piecemeal, as a retrofit, leaving some neighborhoods greener than others. Alternatively, Philadelphia, like many post-industrial cities, is embracing abandoned infrastructure as an opportunity for new open space – a greening of infrastructure, certainly, but not necessarily green infrastructure.

In that regard, the Callowhill neighborhood and superblocks to the east are supremely positioned for green infrastructure-led development. The area has long been a transitional industrial zone. Following the demolition of numerous blocks of factories, warehouses, commercial and residential structures, the vast parking lots, buried streams, and mapped streets throughout the area offer an unparalleled opportunity to think about development from a green-infrastructure-first perspective. With immediate adjacency to Center City, successful entertainment enterprises, a stock of historic structures, a northerly push from Chinatown and pending resurrection of neighborhood icons, such as the Divine Lorraine and the viaduct, it certainly feels plausible.

Public open space projects in Philadelphia, the Rail Park included, are up against constraints experienced by cities nationwide and also contend with an array of federal and state challenges, not the least of which is the

13TH STREET OVERPASS FROM THE STREET Thick hunks of wood and steel reflect the scale of the industry that formerly inhabited the space.

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limited financial resources available for construction and management of new green infrastructure. Much of the Rail Park’s funding has been tied up during the impasse over the state budget. At the local level, development of multi-functional green space, competes with other needs for funding resources. These projects require the support of multiple entities, public and private, to contribute some share toward specific goals of the project – stormwater management, economic development, quality of life, street improvements. Collectively, they represent an investment and belief in a community and its long-term future. Friends of the Rail Park, in collaboration with the Center City District, the City of Philadelphia’s Department of Parks and Recreation and others, have driven the park towards implementation and ensure its ongoing maintenance and care. This collection of committed supporters and the growing social network of users forms the basis of a sustainable public space with a lasting impact on the surrounding community, but projects like this one still have significant obstacles.

Competition with open space programming in the form of Pop-Ups, tactical urbanism and temporary events presents a further challenge to green infrastructure development like the Rail Park. The concept for the Pop-Up Shop originated from a consumer culture driven by the need for rare, limited-edition products. Pop-Up sites are experience driven. Their arrival is unexpected, their presence indeterminate, and they promote an exclusivity of product and space. The Pop-up phenomenon has moved from transitory guerilla activity to a more established player in the urban fabric of Philadelphia and other cities, in the U.S. and abroad.

Many Pop-Ups take the form of seasonal gardens, and celebrate underutilized physical resources. Pop-Ups in Philadelphia have taken a more strategic approach to initial concepts, and have developed a consistent fan-base of beer garden-lovers. It is worth considering the root of the great success temporary spaces have experienced in Philadelphia, but

CALLOWHILL TERMINUS WITH SWINGS The Viaduct offers civic scale and accessible domestic elements, like stoops, porches, and swings, which are largely missing from many of the residential areas of the Callowhill-Chinatown neighborhood.

the success of Pop-Up parks indicates a more important and consistent need, the need for designed open space.

Infrastructure suggests permanence. Pop-Ups, tactical urbanism, or temporary installations are exactly the opposite: fleeting moments rather than a lasting contribution to the urban fabric. There is a place for seasonal or mobile installations. They serve a distinct purpose. They have and will continue to have a role amidst the open spaces in urban environments, but should we embrace the ephemeral to the detriment of permanent public space? Should we divert money from a permanent space in a city that both craves accessible and activated public space and has spatial resources to support permanent green space?

The multi-year process to organize, collaborate, discuss, imagine, design, develop, detail, and fund-raise for the Rail Park has bolstered the Callowhill community even before the implementation of a physical park space. Relationships and community are formed by coming together with a shared purpose and mission. Relationships at Pop-Ups gardens are temporally limited. Perhaps more importantly, Pop-Ups rarely result from community participation, but typically are a packaged installation generated by non-residents. They lack the vital component of community ownership and buy-in, neighborhood integration, and continued oversight and care.

Though many Pop-Ups are revenue generating, investment into temporary space yields only temporary return. Pop-Ups, while they draw occasional crowds and revenue for a limited amount of time during the year, do not entice growth. Green infrastructure is an asset of urban neighborhoods that draws new residents and businesses, as evidenced by case studies such as the High Line in Manhattan, creating a valuable return on investment. Location is among the greatest selling points for growing neighborhoods, and location is defined by convenient access to resources like parks. Green infrastructure is a viable asset to entice growth while Pop-Ups affect few spaces in the long-term.

If the primary goal is to create powerful and lasting memories that transcend both product and the site itself, then a space need not be temporary. Transcendence of site is more profound if permanent and allowed to grow with and for the people that claim the space as their own. A space that is supported by the surrounding neighborhood is a sustainable space. The experiential purpose, while valid, fails to address real urban challenges for neighborhoods that desire productive growth and investment. Lasting memories and vibrant, impactful experiences are outcomes achievable via enduring green space.

Our hope as participants in the rich process of green infrastructure and neighborhood development is that greater priority is given to permanence in Philadelphia’s public spaces and for projects, that fulfill many of the City’s existing priorities including stormwater management, greened-acres, and tree planting. The Friends of the Rail Park, Center City District, and so many others share our passion for the importance of public space and the perseverance required for affecting positive change in surrounding communities. If all goes well, it is our hope that as you are reading this, we will be, after all these years of design, discussion, negotiation, and community building, looking out our studio windows at a flurry of activity. Rather than tour groups, however, we hope to see those clambering along the great stone walls and massive steel structure in hard hats, working to build the centerpiece of one of the City’s great neighborhoods for generations to come. ■ Bryan Hanes, founder and principal at Studio Bryan Hanes, has been involved in the transformation of major public spaces across the country.

Terra Edenhart-Pepe fulfills a multidisciplinary role at Studio Bryan Hanes as operations manager.

Renderings courtesy of Studio Bryan Hanes.

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STREETS: They’re Not Just for Cars Any More

BY JEFF RIEGNER, PE, AICP

Cities exist for the exchange of goods and ideas, and streets are the forum for that exchange. As more and more Americans move to cities— and strive to create a sense of place in suburbia—that movement has awakened a re-imagination of the purpose of streets and roles they play in our daily lives.

Increased automobile ownership in the United States in the aftermath of World War II brought about a fundamental rethinking of the function of streets. As car and truck traffic increased during the postwar boom, congestion became a concern. Traffic engineers—members of a fairly newly minted profession—were tasked with keeping that traffic flowing smoothly and safely. Over time the twin goals of traffic

capacity and safety became the only two ways that a success of a street was measured. And because motor vehicles were (and are) the largest and frequently most numerous components of traffic, throughput of motor vehicles was what mattered most. In an effort to simplify the complex behavior of traffic, engineers based their theories on the flow of sewage through pipes. And those engineers became the sole arbiters of decisions about the configuration of streets in many communities.

The purpose of streets These days there is an increasing awareness that, because streets form such a significant percentage of land in our communities, they should

Lancaster Boulevard before improvements PHOTO: CITY OF LANCASTER

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be called upon to serve more purposes than just facilitating the flow of cars. Most fundamentally, streets are the center of a community’s civic life. They are the places where people interact. Those interactions happen most effectively within the pedestrian realm, so it is essential for streets to be safe and comfortable for people walking.

Streets are also economic engines. Well-designed streets facilitate commerce and enhance economic competitiveness. In one example, the city of Lancaster, California rebuilt its main street to slow traffic and improve the pedestrian realm. The reconstruction of Lancaster Boulevard resulted in the creation of 48 new businesses and over 800 new jobs. Sales tax revenue nearly doubled and the commercial vacancy rate plummeted to only four percent.

The economic benefits of Complete Streets are also felt at home.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, transportation is the second largest expense for a typical family, falling behind only housing.

The benefits of inexpensive distant suburban housing tend to be offset by higher transportation costs if households have to rely on driving as their only way to get around. When walking, bicycling, and transit are viable options, reduced car ownership can save families money on car payments, insurance, gas, and maintenance.

Furthermore, streets are open space. In some communities streets form between one-quarter and one-third of all publicly owned land, so it is imperative that they serve many functions. Montgomery County, Pennsylvania’s Green Fields/Green Towns grant program recognized this fact and awarded open space funding to communities seeking to

improve their streets as key elements of the public realm. Streets that form inviting public spaces can still serve an important environmental role by incorporating green stormwater infrastructure. In Narberth, Pennsylvania, the borough is upgrading Windsor Avenue to manage runoff while serving as a gateway to a library and park.

Finally, an increasing amount of research links public health with physical activity. Streets that encourage walking, bicycling, and riding transit allow people to incorporate that physical activity into their daily lives without carving time out of already busy schedules and relying on gym memberships. In fact, it is reported that one-third of regular transit users meet the minimum daily physical activity requirement during their commutes without the need for additional exercise.

Measuring streets With all of these benefits accruing to streets, it is no longer sufficient to measure streets only by how many cars they carry during peak hours or the rate of crashes that occur along them. We must now measure the success of our streets differently, with a wider range of measures and a multidisciplinary perspective to ensure that streets are designed to address those measures.

The Complete Streets movement arose just over ten years ago in response to this challenge. The National Complete Streets Coalition, a group of affiliated professional societies and advocacy organizations, carries the banner for this effort. In their words, “Complete Streets are streets for everyone. They are designed and operated to enable safe access

PHOTO: CITY OF LANCASTER

Lancaster Boulevard after improvements

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Complete Streets in Philadelphia and the Delaware Valley Pennsylvania and New Jersey are leaders in Complete Streets at the state level. In 2008 the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission worked with both state departments of transportation to develop a Smart Transportation Guidebook. The Guidebook provides tools for transportation decision makers to plan and design streets in ways that work for all users. More recently, Reading, Pennsylvania was recognized as having the best Complete Streets policy in the nation in 2015, receiving a perfect score from the Coalition.

The City of Philadelphia has also made Complete Streets a focal point of its efforts. The Philadelphia Complete Streets Design Handbook, published by former Mayor Nutter’s Office of Transportation and Utilities (since replaced by the Office of Transportation and Infrastructure Systems, or OTIS), provides guidance on how the City’s streets should be designed and built to be safe, convenient, and comfortable for everyone. In just a few short years since the Handbook was prepared, Philadelphia has seen the benefits of the Complete Streets philosophy.

To underscore the importance of Complete Streets to Philadelphia, Mayor Kenney announced earlier this year that he would appoint a Complete Streets Commissioner.

Philadelphia, like many other communities across the country, has recognized that effective community involvement is essential in implementing Complete Streets. One example is the proposed Mantua Greenway project in West Philadelphia. In 2014, Mantua was named one of President Barack Obama’s first five Promise Zones. The “We Are Mantua!” neighborhood planning effort established a comprehensive plan for revitalization. The first major project resulting from the plan 22

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Street redesign inventory

SOURCE: MEASURING THE STREET: NEW METRICS FOR 21ST CENTURY STREETS, NEW YORK CITY DOT

for all users. People of all ages and abilities are able to safely move along and across streets in a community, regardless of how they are traveling.”

Rather than being a design prescription that requires sidewalks, bike lanes, and bus stops on all streets, Complete Streets is process-oriented. With a Complete Streets policy in place, a community ensures that all users—not just drivers—are accounted for when transportation decisions are made.

The principal focus of the Coalition has been policy development. As of spring 2016 over 900 Complete Streets policies had been enacted across the United States. These policies, enacted at the state, regional, county, and local levels, aim to change the processes by which streets are planned, designed, built, operated, and maintained. Complete Streets policies ensure that people walking, bicycling, and riding transit are the norm rather than exceptions that require special design treatments. The ultimate goal of all of this policy work, of course, is implementation.

Communities are only positively affected once physical changes are made and experienced on an everyday basis.

It is also critical to note that the street right of way cannot be considered independently. Context is critically important. Buildings shape the street, creating a sense of enclosure, transparency, and connectivity that is essential to the functioning of a street in the public realm. And streets shape buildings as well, informing their relationships to each other and to the community.

is the Mantua Greenway, a proposed walking and bicycling corridor along Mantua’s northern boundary.

Designed to ignite a sense of neighborhood pride, the Greenway will beautify the area and connect residents with commercial, cultural, and recreational destinations. Plans for the 1.5-mile Greenway include a continuous shared-use path, improved sidewalks, traffic calming, improved bus stops, and four community spaces along the alignment.

The project is being jointly managed by the Philadelphia City Planning Commission and the Philadelphia Water Department, emphasizing the benefits of multidisciplinary collaboration.

Because the Greenway concept grew out of a grassroots neighborhood effort, PCPC and PWD approached the design in a communitycentered manner. The team engaged the community with the Mantua Greenway Design Month in April 2016, combining standard public meetings and non-traditional activities over a condensed timeframe.

This approach sustained stakeholder support and momentum, thus ensuring that both community members and the design team stayed focused on shared project goals. The process built trust, fostered neighborhood support, and showed residents that their participation really makes a difference.

A call to action So what role do architects play in Complete Streets? For one, architects and urban designers are taught to think about how people interact with spaces. As streets are increasingly shaped by multidisciplinary teams of planning and design professionals, new ways of thinking about the public realm are required.

Equally important is the design of buildings to properly relate to the street. The most successful streets feature buildings that are built to the right of way line and have entrances directly onto the sidewalk rather than to nearby parking lots. Closely spaced entrances and active displays encourage window shopping. Generous sidewalks provide opportunities to sit, meet with friends, and perhaps enjoy coffee.

By effectively designing streets and buildings for people, our communities realize many benefits. ■ Jeff Riegner, PE, AICP is Vice President of Whitman, Requardt & Associates, LLP. He directs the firm’s transportation and urban design efforts in eastern Pennsylvania and Delaware. A national leader in Complete Streets and active transportation, Jeff is a steering committee member and workshop instructor for the National Complete Streets Coalition.

Community Build Day along the Mantua Greenway (Photo: Whitman, Requardt & Associates, LLP)

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BY DR. PETER ANGELIDES Questions about infrastructure often quickly devolve in to discussions about congestion, difficulty in parking, and a sense that if only one’s pet project were funded, all would be fine. To avoid falling into the same rhetoric, it’s critical to set the foundation: examine what infrastructure is and the important considerations of infrastructure investment. Unlike most other types of government spending, infrastructure is expensive, long-lasting, has significant ongoing maintenance costs, and profound impacts on the built environment. These facts have implications on what kind of infrastructure investments to make and how to pay for them.

Once the base is laid, we can look at several infrastructure needs and proposals in the Philadelphia region through these lenses.

At its core, infrastructure is about making significant investments today for a better tomorrow, either for enjoyment, as in a park, museum, or sports facility or for economic productivity, such as improved public transport, roads, or energy systems. Though investment decisions are based on the current built environment, and hence reflect past decisions, infrastructure investment is truly about the future, not the past.

In other words, decisions about infrastructure investments we make today should reflect how we want the future to look. For example, if we want an auto-dominated future, we should continue to invest heavily 24

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in auto-focused infrastructure. If we want a different future, we should invest heavily in alternative types of infrastructure.

Infrastructure leads to growth in several ways. The most direct route to growth is when infrastructure satisfies a direct economic need, such as faster transportation, faster and more reliable telecommunications, and cleaner water. In the US, most of these initial investments have already been made, though there are still opportunities for incremental improvement. Another route to economic growth is to recognize that most employment can locate nearly anywhere, and that firms will often locate where they can find a labor force that satisfies their needs. Infrastructure that makes workers happy, then, contributes to economic growth by making the region attractive to the types of workers that firms need.

Workers, when deciding where to locate and how much to accept in compensation, will accept lower wages to be in a place they like than in a place they do not like. Thus, civic amenity infrastructure – such as museums, stadiums, trails, parks and the like, are economic development engines as well as happiness generators for the public.

Infrastructure is generally expensive to construct, but what is often forgotten is that it is also incredibly costly to maintain. One need only look at the disastrous state of affairs in Washington’s Metro system, a

PHOTO: MONTGOMERY COUNTY PLANNING COMMISSION

INFRASTRUCTURE – IMPORTANT THOUGHTS AND APPLICATION TO REGIONAL PROJECTS

Schuylkill Banks

fairly “new” system that has suffered from years of deferred investment, to see how a failure to maintain can yield bad outcomes in terms of safety and reliability. Without maintenance, infrastructure loses its value, and the initial spending is wasted. One approach to maintenance is to sustain it poorly and then simply rebuild, but that approach usually comes with a higher price tag than building well and preserving over the years.

That is because steady maintenance can greatly extend the useful life of infrastructure, delaying the time before rebuilding becomes necessary.

Due to its substantial expense, paying for infrastructure is significant.

Ultimately, the choice of how to pay for infrastructure affects how much is built, how it is used, and what it looks like. For many projects, it is possible to get users to pay for some or all of the investments. For example, much of the electricity, telecommunications and water infrastructure is entirely paid for by the users of these investments. Some road projects, such as the Pennsylvania Turnpike and the bridges over the Delaware River, are also fully funded by user fees. User fees are appropriate economically because they tie the burden of paying for infrastructure tightly to the beneficiaries of the infrastructure. User fees also limit usage to the people who value something enough that it is worth paying for. It is not practical or appropriate to charge for

all infrastructure. For example, charging for the use of sidewalks or access to Fairmount parks is not likely to be a good idea. Also, for public transportation, there are significant external benefits to using SETPA, such as decreased congestion on roads, decreased greenhouse gas emissions, and increased property values near stations, that justify charging less than the full cost of a trip.

How much infrastructure costs to use also influences how much is used, and hence how much must be built. For example, if electricity were free, people would heat their houses with electric heat, requiring many more electricity generating stations and transmission towers than we have now. Roads are a good example of under-priced infrastructure.

Most roads are free to drive on, so the cost of policing and maintain them falls on the general public (Roads in general are heavily subsidized and users do not pay anything close to the full cost of building, maintaining and policing them). People who do not use roads very much subsidize the people who use roads a lot, and everyone uses roads more than they would if the cost to use a road more accurately reflected its true cost.

The amount of infrastructure needed is a critical question. Overbuilding causes problems because of required maintenance. If we built enough lanes of highways so that at the peak of the peak, all the roads were AIA Philadelphia | context | FALL 2016 25

carrying the maximum number of cars they could carry before traffic started to slow due to congestion. That means that at all other times of the day, there is unused capacity that has to be built and maintained. It would be better if the road were built smaller, there was some congestion some of the time, and the savings were used to invest somewhere else.

As an example of the interplay between pricing, infrastructure, and long-term demand, consider US 422 from King of Prussia to Pottstown.

The freeway, initially constructed in the early 1980s, allowed travelers from Collegeville and other areas to make trips to King of Prussia and Philadelphia significantly faster than they were able to before. This investment clearly improved their lives. However, because trips were faster, the location decisions of other households and businesses changed, and new investment was made near the 422 exits instead of in other, closer-in places. The household that moved to Collegeville because of the access enabled by 422 generally had longer commutes than they did at their previous location, so average trip length increased. Further, as the number of households living along the 422 corridor increased, so did the number of drivers, and so the demand and need for 422 increased as well. The congestion level crept back up so that the most congested part of the region is on 422, reducing much of the benefit of the road in the first place. Because there are no tolls on the road, there was more development and 422 has more traffic than if it were properly priced

Now let’s apply these thoughts to several large or contemplated infrastructure projects in the region: I-95. The reconstruction of I-95 through Philadelphia is proceeding over several decades, with remarkably little public discourse over what form the reconstruction should take. However, the world of 2016 is very different from the world of the 1960s and 1970s when the road was built in the first place. The industrial justification for such a large road is gone – Philadelphia will never be the type of industrial juggernaut that it was in that bygone era, nor should it aspire to be.

Riverfront property, especially in and near Center City, which used to be reserved for industry, is now a desirable residential and commercial location. Why then, is so much potentially useful land sacrificed for an oversized highway and a major arterial road – Delaware Avenue? In light of the discussion above, would it be worth considering rebuilding I-95 as a smaller road, especially south of Vine Street? If the number of lanes shrank, it might be feasible to bury much of the road, perhaps relocating Delaware Avenue on top of it. Tolls on I-95 could help pay some of the cost, and would further discourage unnecessary usage.

SEPTA. Thanks to Act 89, SEPTA now has sufficient funding to repair and replace the parts of the system that have outlived their useful lives. As it invests, it is the perfect opportunity to move the system into a more efficient configuration, better able to serve the public’s needs. Ridership on the rail lines is at an all-time high, so investments to increase capacity and reduce the travel time (especially between

I-95 from the Ben Frankly Bridge PHOTO: FDOCBC

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PHOTO: MONTGOMERY COUNTY PLANNING COMMISSION

9th Street Station in Lansdale

Temple and University City) often require more than simply replacing the previous iteration of infrastructure in kind. For example, new SEPTA vehicles could enable faster loading on high-level platforms than the current vehicles by having wider doors.

Vine Street Bridges. Though several of the bridges over the Vine Street expressway are currently being rebuilt, there is very little incremental improvement in the project. When done, they will function much as they had over the past 50 years, except they will no longer be in danger of falling down. This replacement in kind approach assumes that the current design and configuration is acceptable. They are not.

Vine Street serves as a barrier between Center City and areas north.

Capping the expressway and improving the parallel surface roads would significantly improve the urban experience and make the land along the road more valuable. Increased property values would contribute, albeit indirectly, to paying for the work via increased property tax revenue.

Trails. The regional trail system for biking and walking is a prime example of economic development infrastructure. The trail system is primarily useful for recreation and enjoyment, which is justification enough for building civic infrastructure. However, the trails are also economic development because they are the type of amenity valued by much of the workforce, and attracting and keeping a capable workforce is essential for modern economies. Though the current trail system is

funded in bits and pieces by grants and local capital awards, it would make sense to create a region-wide funding authority to sell bonds and build the system in an orderly manner. Since the entire economy benefits, even if not everyone uses it, it is reasonable to fund out of general revenues or economic development funds.

Ports. In contrast to trails, ports are a narrowly focused type of infrastructure. A good port allows transshipment of goods and enables industries that thrive on transfer points, such as storage and logistics, which helps drive employment in those industries. However, ports bring few ancillary benefits in the sense of making the region a more enjoyable place to live. There is also the question of whether ports are the highest and best use of potentially valuable waterfront property.

Accordingly, port funding is more appropriately narrow in focus and should fall more directly on the beneficiaries of the infrastructure.

Maintenance, efficiency, and pricing all matter when it comes to infrastructure investment. Investment can improve the lives of the region’s residents, especially if they are thought through appropriately. As we invest, we should think carefully about how we want the future to look, and choose investments that make that idea a reality. ■ Dr. Peter Angelides is a principal at Econsult Solutions, Inc. (ESI) and a member of the teaching faculty at the University of Pennsylvania.

AIA Philadelphia | context | FALL 2016 27

Why Infrastructure Matters

BY ROB WONDERLING A strong infrastructure network is the lifeblood of a robust economy. It allows us to move, work, create, and prosper. When we have a modern and efficient transportation network, our region can move goods, services, and people safely and reliably throughout the area which generates strong economic productivity and quality of life.

Transportation infrastructure has many forms. Philadelphia International Airport is a lynchpin for our regional economy with a $14.4 billion economic impact. More than 30 million people travel through it annually with over 550 daily departures to 128 cities around the world.

This makes it the 14th most-connected hub airport in the world. Current investment and expansion projects at the airport ensure that it can serve the region at its highest capacity now and into the future.

Like most urban centers, Greater Philadelphia relies heavily on public transit and intercity passenger rail. Over 400 million trips are taken each year through regional transit agencies (DART, NJ Transit, PATCO, and SEPTA) making Greater Philadelphia the 6th highest metro by transit travel in the country. Philadelphia’s 30th Street Station is the 3rd busiest station in the U.S., serving over four million passengers annually.

Our region’s access to waterways is another critical competitive advantage. Greater Philadelphia has 3 major ports with over 30 active port terminals that connect our region with products from around the world and vice versa. Each year, over 1,700 ships move more than 70 million tons of cargo through the tri-state port complex. Ports on the Delaware River handle so much cargo that, if considered a single entity, they would rank seventh in the nation. We are home to the number one cold supply chain port complex on the East Coast as well as the number one perishables port in the Northeast United States. Our ports are among the few in the U.S. with available land for expansion, with large parcels available for construction of warehouses and distribution centers.

Construction of the new 120-acre Southport Marine terminal began in 2013, adding two berths for larger ships and six high capacity cranes.

Yet despite these key assets, Pennsylvania’s infrastructure continues to deteriorate. Greater Philadelphia has over one thousand miles of national highway and over 350 miles of interstate routes. Total lane miles of pavement in deficient conditions increased by 8 percent between 2005 and 2012. Almost 45 present of the region’s 4,813 bridges are either 28 FALL 2016 | context | AIA Philadelphia

EXPRESSION

functionally obsolete or structurally deficient. Our water infrastructure is aging and has the most combined sewer overflows of any state in the nation with over 1,600 overflows in 39 counties. And throughout Greater Philadelphia the time spent in traffic continues to rise, increasing commuter times and slowing delivery times of goods and services.

If we are to truly transform Greater Philadelphia’s infrastructure, we must develop a more modern approach to key infrastructure opportunities for the city and region beyond simply maintaining the status quo.

These could include, but are not limited to: • A public private partnership to construct a new span over the Schuylkill Expressway for vehicles or guided rail; • Substantial capital investment in our ports to handle modern container ships travelling through the upgraded Panama Canal and an increase of inter-coastal shipping due to LNG exports; • Establishing the City of Philadelphia as a Center of Excellence for CNG refueling stations and the infrastructure needed to build demand for shale natural gas; • Becoming a test-bed for driverless vehicles. Pennsylvania is already meeting with Uber and General Motors on this new and game-changing technology that could remake how our economy operates; • Reimagining the I-95 bridge along the Delaware River Waterfront to improve connectivity and enhance the community; • Bolstering our capital investment in our Tier I Research institutions. Today, we are losing our best research scientists to more modern facilities; • Establishing the City of Philadelphia as a global center for innovation and design of waste water treatment facilities with an emphasis on solving combined sewer overflow; • Creating an “infrastructure mobility overlay” in University City in Philadelphia. Per square mile, University City is projected to have the largest per capita job growth in the region, but lacks the infrastructure to accommodate it.

With this in mind, the Chamber of Commerce for Greater Philadelphia’s CEO Council for Growth is currently working on a strategy to modernize Greater Philadelphia’s infrastructure and economy.

IF WE ARE TO TRULY TRANSFORM GREATER PHILADELPHIA’S INFRASTRUCTURE, WE MUST DEVELOP A MORE MODERN APPROACH TO KEY INFRASTRUCTURE OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE CITY AND REGION BEYOND SIMPLY MAINTAINING THE STATUS QUO.

The CEO Council’s focus of work includes opportunities that will promote mobility, enhance livability, and impact our economy. By strategically evaluating, prioritizing, and advocating for the implementation of regional infrastructure projects, the CEO Council will advance a strategic investment portfolio to stimulate growth and enhance competitiveness. We urge you to join us in this important endeavor to make our region a truly global center.

The consequences of doing nothing will impact our economy, environment, and public safety.

Addressing these core infrastructure issues now will jump start our economy and provide long-term benefits to our city’s and region’s economic competitiveness. If you would like to be part of our efforts to transform Greater Philadelphia’s infrastructure, please email me at rwonderling@greaterphilachamber.com. We haven’t a moment to lose. ■ Rob Wonderling is President & CEO of the Chamber of Commerce for Greater Philadelphia and Chair of the CEO Council for Growth.

AIA Philadelphia | context | FALL 2016 29

MANAYUNK BRIDGE TRAIL

Whitman, Requardt & Associates, LLP

PHOTO: ANN MUNLEY

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PHOTO: MICHAEL HIRSCH

DESIGN PROFILE

The Manayunk Bridge, built in 1918, has long been a prominent landmark in one of Philadelphia’s most iconic neighborhoods. Until the 1970s it carried the Pennsylvania Railroad in a sweeping S-curve 80 feet above the Schuylkill River, streets, and other active railroads. In 1983, the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) assumed control of Philadelphia’s commuter railroads and for three years the bridge remained operational. In 1986, however, bridge service was extinguished and within a few years the bridge had fallen into disrepair. In the early 1990’s SEPTA performed a major rehabilitation by removing the rails and fouled ballast, and installing a new waterproofing and drainage system to prevent further decay. The bridge, however, sat unused.

A coalition of government agencies and community groups envisioned the bridge as a trail and advocated for its conversion. Funding was obtained from a variety of public and private sources to design and build the project on a fast-track schedule. Whitman, Requardt & Associates, LLP (WRA) led the design team and steering committee through a vigorous planning and final design process. Because the project was community-driven and there were numerous stakeholders and affected entities, WRA determined the bridge’s most advantageous redevelopment through intense public outreach and careful stakeholder coordination. The project’s ultimate goal was to establish a safe, non-motorized connection between Lower Merion and Philadelphia. Enhancing multimodal transportation between the two communities affords Lower Merion Township residents access to Philadelphia shopping, restaurants, and entertainment venues, while in turn providing much-needed open space for Manayunk residents. This dichotomy—a dense, vibrant urban neighborhood on the Manayunk side and forested hills on the Lower Merion side—is one of the project’s most interesting and endearing characteristics.

Initial funding, while substantial, was insufficient to implement a grand vision for the trail. The funding agencies adjusted their approach to emphasize the durability and timelessness of the facility. The reinforced concrete pavement and decorative galvanized steel fencing are designed for safety, durability, and to complement the area’s industrial heritage. Because the bridge contributes to the Manayunk Historic District, the project was designed to both preserve its original fabric and respect its historic character. These elements formed an armature onto which additional amenities can be built as funds become available. The City of Philadelphia was recently awarded funds to install trail lighting which will allow the trail to remain open for extended commuter hours. A master plan is in place to extend the route along the inactive rail corridor to the Ivy Ridge Station, further promoting the bridge as a significant link in the regional trail network.

The Manayunk Bridge Trail has been called the “crown jewel” of the Delaware Valley trail network. The Trail not only preserves an iconic, historical structure, but also redevelops it to suit a modern era of active recreation and multimodal transportation. ■

PROJECT: Manayunk Bridge Trail LOCATION: Manayunk, Philadelphia, and Lower Merion Township CLIENT: Manayunk Development Corporation PROJECT SIZE: ½ mile of elevated trail PROJECT TEAM: Whitman, Requardt & Associates, LLP (Lead Engineer, Architect, and Landscape Architect) A.D. Marble & Company (Environmental clearance and permitting) Interface Studio LLC (Urban planning and public involvement) Ritter and Plante Associates, LLC (Field survey and inventory of existing conditions) Alta Planning + Design (Concept planning)

AIA Philadelphia | context | FALL 2016 31

THE PHILADELPHIA NAVY SHIP YARD

Pennoni

ROBERT A.M. STERN ARCHITECTS

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DESIGN PROFILE

PHOTO: PENNONI

Since the U.S. Navy closed the historic Philadelphia Naval Shipyard (PNSY) complex in 1996, The Navy Yard has reemerged as a magnet for new businesses, employment, and investment in Philadelphia. The 1,200 acre site, which during its peak employed more than 40,000 people, had become home to a number of neglected buildings dating as far back as the 1870s. In 2000, PIDC, Philadelphia’s public-private

economic development corporation, acquired control of The Navy Yard on behalf of the City of Philadelphia. In 2004, PIDC selected Liberty Property Trust and Synterra Partners (Liberty/Synterra) as its new commercial development partners.

In 2004, PIDC and Liberty/Synterra selected a multidiscipline design team that included Robert A.M. Stern Architects and Pennoni to create the 2004 Master Plan. This Master Plan set the guiding principles for design at The Navy Yard and envisioned creating a dynamic, mixed-use waterfront community focused on five distinct districts, highlighting the site’s unique characteristics, such as its location, size, and historic background. Pennoni provided engineering design services that would support the development of this campus.

Pennoni’s work to date has included the design of more than eight miles of road and utility infrastructure; Central Green, a world-class, five acre park; over 1.3M SF of office, industrial, and commercial buildings for Liberty/Synterra; and some of the first green streets in Philadelphia along Rouse Boulevard and in the Central Green District.

With no previously established practices for Green Street technology, the Pennoni-designed green streets pioneered standards that are now part of the current guidelines and practices used and enforced by the City of Philadelphia Water and Streets Department. ■

PROJECT: The Navy Yard - Master Plan and Infrastructure Projects LOCATION: Philadelphia, PA CLIENT: PIDC and Liberty Property Trust/Synterra Limited Partnership PROJECT SIZE: 1,000 acres (project covers 522 acres) PROJECT TEAM: Robert A.M. Stern Architects (Architect) Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates (Landscape Architect) Pennoni (Site/Civil Engineering)

AIA Philadelphia | context | FALL 2016 33

BAKERY SQUARE 2.0

Strada Architecture LLC The redevelopment of former Reizenstein School site, along Penn Avenue in the East End of Pittsburgh, offered a unique opportunity to expand upon the remarkable success of the adjacent Bakery Square, and create a tightly knit neighborhood in the city where Pittsburghers could work, live and play. The project builds on Bakery Square’s emerging role as a major destination in the East End with excellent access to public transit and parking to support further growth.

Strada’s Master Plan, Bakery Square 2.0, drew upon the historic character of nearby Shadyside, which is dense, urbane and above all, walkable. By incorporating a mix of uses—single-family homes, townhouses arranged around mews and courtyards, and modern office buildings—all constructed to LEED standards and directly connected to the city’s urban fabric, the project is establishing a 21st century urban neighborhood benchmark.

Located within 1500’ of the East Liberty Bus Station and numerous bus routes on Penn Avenue, Bakery Square is a transit-oriented development, designed to LEED for Neighborhood Development standards. A traditional street grid extends neighborhood connections for cars, pedestrians and cyclists and enhances a communal public realm through a system of complete streets and oppositefacing courtyards.

The buildings incorporate passive and active strategies to capitalize on the site’s ideal solar orientation. They include stepped rooftop terraces and green roofs. The landscape and infrastructure are designed to sustainable standards of stormwater management, and internal streets are built to minimum dimensions in order to reduce impervious surfaces and privilege the pedestrian over the car.

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FALL 2016 | context | AIA Philadelphia

DESIGN PROFILE

PROJECT: Bakery Square 2.0 LOCATION: 6425 Penn Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA CLIENT: Walnut Capital PROJECT SIZE: Master Plan for two 200,000 GSF office buildings, two 175-unit apartment buildings (each 235,840 SF), 45 townhouses, public and private streets, open spaces, and green infrastructure, spanning 12.5 acres. To date, one office building, two apartment buildings, and green infrastructure have been designed and constructed.

PROJECT TEAM: BAKERY SQUARE 2.0 MASTER PLAN Walnut Capital (Owner/Developer) Strada Architecture LLC (Architect / Landscape Architect / Planner) P.J. Dick Incorporated (Contractor / CM) Hampton Technical Associates (Civil Engineering)

The Bakery Square 2.0 streets, bike and pedestrian system, and public and private courtyards encompass the largest new green infrastructure project in the City of Pittsburgh. The roadway includes porous paving areas and planted bioretention areas. In a first for the city, public infrastructure in the streets is being used to manage both public and private stormwater runoff. The bioretention planters and rain gardens, in conjunction with underground infiltration beds, are designed to take in storm water from the roadways, the sidewalks and the roofs of the surrounding buildings and landscapes. In addition, the comprehensive system of stormwater management creates a lush visual and environmental amenity that provides shade to reduce the urban heat island affect, and also slows and screens traffic.

The Master Plan envisioned two 200,000 GSF office buildings, two 175-unit apartment buildings (each 235,840 SF), 45 townhouses, public and private streets, open spaces, and green infrastructure, spanning 12.5 acres. To date, one office building, two apartment buildings, and green infrastructure have been designed and constructed. â–

Allen & Shariff Engineering (MEP) Nitsch Engineering (Green Infrastructure Consultant) BAKERY LIVING I AND II Walnut Capital (Owner/Developer) Strada Architecture LLC (Architect / Landscape Architect) P.J. Dick Incorporated (Contractor / CM) Hampton Technical Associates (Civil Engineering) The Harman Group (Structural Engineering) Allen & Shariff Engineering (MEP) OFFICE BUILDING A Walnut Capital (Owner/Developer) Strada Architecture LLC (Architect / Landscape Architect) P.J. Dick Incorporated (Contractor / CM) Allen & Shariff Engineering (MEP) Atlantic Engineering Services (Structural Engineering) Clear Story (Lighting Design)

AIA Philadelphia | context | FALL 2016 35

DESIGN PROFILE

SEPTA CITY HALL STATION

BLT Architects For over 90 years, City Hall Station and 15th Street Station have been the hub of Philadelphia’s public transit system, serving thousands of riders every day and allowing free interchange between the Broad Street Line (BSL), Market-Frankford Line (MFL) and Trolley Lines (TL). The station complex also provides easy pedestrian access to Regional Rail Lines at Suburban Station and to SEPTA buses along market and Broad Streets. Because of its engineering significance, City Hall Station is eligible for the National Register of Historic Places.

SEPTA has recently completed work under Dilworth Park, creating a new transit gateway to the Broad Street, Market-Frankford and Trolley Lines with entrances and new elevators that make transit levels accessible. Now, with additional state funding, the remaining phases of design work and construction are moving forward. Once completed, the renovated City Hall and 15th Street Stations will be more user-friendly, safer and more secure, accessible to all users, easier to maintain, and in compliance with applicable codes. The renovations will incorporate environmentally-friendly methods and materials. Specifically, this project will: • Provide full access for riders with disabilities through new elevators and ramps to all levels of both stations, new and wider ramped corridors connection the stations, and new accessible fare line gates.

• Improve passenger flow with new and reconfigured fare lines outfitted for the new SEPTA Key program, new stairs and railings, and more visually open areas in the City Hall and 15th Street Mezzanines and on the platforms.

• Update station interiors and systems including new architectural finishes, new signs, Artin- Transit, new seating and other amenities, new lighting and public address systems, and closed-circuit TV. ■ 36

FALL 2016 | context | AIA Philadelphia

PROJECT: SEPTA City Hall Station Renovations LOCATION: 15th and Market Streets, City Hall, Philadelphia, PA CLIENT: SEPTA (Southeastern PA Transportation Authority) PROJECT SIZE: 115,000 SF Total (through various phases) PROJECT TEAM: BLT Architects (Architect) Gannett Fleming, Inc. (Civil, Structural Engineering) Arora Engineers, Inc. (Mechanical, Electrical Engineering) The ENC Group (Cost Estimating, Scheduling) Cerami & Associates (Acoustics, AV, IT) Kleinfelder, Inc. (Environmental, Geotechnical)

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