RIPARIAN RIFT

The Philadelphia Museum of Art is the cultural heart of the city. Signifying the institution’s importance, it stands sentry at the entrance to the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, a main thoroughfare into Center City that connects almost all of the City’s most iconic destinations, recreational spaces, and art institutions. The PMA acts as a warm host to tourists and an energetic organizer for local residents, fostering engagement and connection among Philadelphia’s diverse citizenry. In this location at the northern end of the Parkway, the PMA is surrounded by mid-rise residential buildings, athletic facilities like Boat House Row, and outdoor recreational zones like the Schuylkill River Trail and Love Park.

Riparian Rift is an extension to the main PMA, which aims to engage and connect the museum’s surroundings in more interactive and inclusive ways than the original museum structure is able to. This project contains some traditional gallery spaces, but goes beyond the traditional museum typology to include a significant amount of square footage dedicated to public gathering spaces and community centers.

The project places an amphitheater on the southern side of the building envelope, reaching from the ground level up to a roof terrace. It faces over the Schuylkill River dam, towards the Waterworks and Center City skyline for a scenic view. This amphitheater creates a public space which is truly open to anyone, zero admission fee required. It is a great place to have a weekend picnic with your family, sit quietly and enjoy the sights and sounds of the Schuylkill River, or hold larger gatherings such as concerts, club meetings, assemblies, or protests. This space creates a welcoming environment for all people, cultivating reclamation of the public space for personal enjoyment, education, and exercising free speech.

Within the museum, rooms of various sizes are provided on the ground floor and first level for reservation by the public. These rooms are primarily intended to be used as spaces of expression where the public can make art that either responds directly to an exhibit at the PMA or their own personal experiences. These creations by the public can then be displayed in the gallery spaces. Beyond creation, these rooms can also be used for educational purposes, small meetings, or community outreach.

Top: interior rendering featuring gallery and circulation spaces

Middle: exterior render of public amphitheater on museum facade

Bottom: Left photograph of physical model, 3D printed with transparent and opaque, colorful resin powder. ~12” x 4” x 2”

Bottom Right: axonometric showing the building in its context, between the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the banks of the Schuylkill River

Riparian Rift uses bright colors and bold patterns to imbue the spaces with energy, creativity, and passion. Instead of traditional white-washed museum walls, this project embraces splashes of color throughout. This use of color aims to make the space feel less fragile or intimidating than a traditional museum, thereby encouraging users to participate with the art shown in exhibits as well as the interactive areas where they can develop their own masterpieces and join other group activities.

The formal language of the museum references the Schuylkill River. Flowing building elements bring the calming motion of the water onto the river banks, washing the edge of the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in vibrant expression.

Day V Night

These renderings depict a large rock sculpture during mid-day and evening hours, with the intention of creating accurate lighting environments when combining a rendered image with a photograph. Emphasis was placed on matching perspectives and balancing colors between the render of a three-dimensional model and a photograph taken on site in Callowhill, Philadelphia.

ARCH 502 Design Studio II

Jacqueline Martinez Spring 2022

Left: conceptual collage showing progression of technological innovation from the 20th to 21st century (timeline ascends from bottom to top)