PROJECT
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Franklin’s Kite Reimagined As Glazed Façade A Philadelphia innovation center enlivens its city block.
A
s part of an evolution toward a 21st-century education model, universities and teaching hospitals across the country are establish-
ing “innovation centers” to encourage new thinking and collaborative problem solving among faculty, students, and industry partners. In 2015, Thomas Jefferson Univ., Philadelphia, opened the two-story Jefferson Accelerator Zone to house innovation activities at the nationally recognized healthcare learning institution. Designed by architecture firm Cecil Baker + Part-
ners, Philadelphia, the Jefferson Accelerator Zone boasts a visual identity that reflects the academic medical center’s entrepreneurial, interdisciplinary spirit. Cecil Baker + Partners is known for contemporary design and a collaborative, community-minded approach, which made it a natural fit to design Jefferson’s innovation center. The firm’s portfolio comprises governmental, institutional, and private-sector work. Its services include performing feasibility studies, programming, design of new structures, adaptive reuse, and interior design. The project came to the firm in the summer of 2014. The university owned a two-story row house on its Center City campus and planned to recreate it as a space to promote medical innovation. The structure needed to reflect the energetic, progressive spirit of the program and the architects were tasked with devising a way to enliven the façade and visually define the building as a center for innovation. Architects at Cecil Baker + Partners reimagined Ben Franklin’s kite as a projecting glazed façade for a Philadelphia medical innovation center. Photo: Matt Wargo
THE DESIGN GERM
Architect Cecil Baker, founding partner, sketched an
commercialarchitecturemagazine.com
MARCH 2016
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