Philadelphia Construction: The Skinny

The folks at Philadelphiaskyline.com have been much more industrious when it comes to keeping up with the state of new construction projects in the city than I have. Take a look at their compendium of projects in The Skinny.

I covers most projects ranging from residential construction, cultural projects, transit projects etc. A good resource.

Poked out of my hiatus

Well,

I have neglected this place for a while but have been prodded by a recent flood of comments to two entries about Philadelphia:

• Future Philadelphia Skyscrapers?
• Philadelphia Public Transit in Trouble

Not surprising given the recent news that Comcast will be proceeding with building its national HQ in Center City Philadelphia with, what will be, the tallest tower in the city and the news that SEPTA has been given some stop-gap funding to prevent huge fare increases and substantial reductions in service.

Alright, I have been shamed by the readers who are more willing to post here than I have been. I will re-energize this place.  Thanks.

Seattle

Just came back from a long weekend in Seattle with Laura. We visited the following neighborhoods:

• Downtown
• Pioneer Square District
• Belltown
• Capitol Hill
• Ballard
• Fremont
• Wallingford
• Lake Union area (Montlake/Eastlake)

The aesthetic appeal of the city involves the transitions between a dense, skyscraper-heavy hub and the lush, watery neighborhoods around it. High-rises and high-density housing blocks concentrate, for the most part, around the Downtown, Belltown and Capitol Hill neighborhoods. Significant portions of the other neighborhoods have higher concentrations of low-elevation homes designed in a "mild" modernist style.

This offers residents a smooth shift between a highly urbanized visual experience and a less hectic and greener experience without having to travel "out" to the suburbanized areas. The greener areas of Seattle do not have the traditional suburban features (i.e., sprawled clusters of homes, roads leading to shopping hubs, reliance on traffic arteries). These neighborhoods are surrounded by northwestern greenery, but homes within them do not have large tracts of empty land isolating them from other homes. Modernist homes and bungalows lie close to each other but their privacy and individuality are conserved by the lushness around them.

Of course, this is an initial impression gathered from a four day visit and selective sampling of the neighborhoods. Other parts of Seattle will not fit this description (e.g., industrial South Seattle and certain spots in Ballard); but I think this description captures the essence of what was appealing about Seattle.

While I was there, Forbes Magazine released a list of the Most Overpriced Places of 2004 and Seattle came in as #1. In a nutshell, their reasoning boils down to the claim that "the cost of living and housing is not proportionate to the job and income growth in the area." A scan of real estate listings revealed that rentals are about 10-20% cheaper than in Philadelphia while the sales market was comparable (perhaps slightly higher). Given that I am mulling over a potential move and that Seattle is a prime candidate, I must admit that I did not sense it as overpriced -- though that may change if I know more about the typical salaries in the area and whether the homes in the removed islands and uber-wealthy regions are outrageously priced.

I shall post a Seattle photo album shortly.

Slots in Center City?

The Philadelphia Inquirer has a good article by architecture critic Inga Saffron on the impact of proposed casino/slot construction in the Market East area.

A few observations:

• One proposal would like to demolish the entire block between 11th and 12th / Market and Chestnut.


• The proposed building in the article’s illustration is a travesty. Do we really need another concrete box on Market East? Isn’t the Gallery enough damage?


• Can you imagine what adding slot machines to service up to 40,000 people a day will do to that already unappealing area?


• Will the $160 savings in wage taxes per $40,000 of income be worth this?

If we must accept the existence of slots in Center City, couldn't we think of better spots for it? One that comes to mind: Tie them in to the Convention Center area without disrupting Chinatown. Focus on the area between North Broad and 13th Street / Arch and Callowhill.

Even more disturbing:

But the city will have to pay dearly for this infusion of revenue. The slots bill, which was rushed through the legislature without the usual opportunities for public comment, strips Philadelphia of planning and zoning powers over its future casinos. Instead, a seven-member, state-run gambling control board will decide the big design issues, from the location of the casinos down to the location of their garage driveways.

Benjamin Franklin Parkway

The Philadelphia Daily News has posted a special section discussing possible ways to improve the Parkway. In addition to several articles championing different projects and maintaining current features (e.g., introducing a line of cafes along the Parkway, keeping the baseball park, etc.), they offer a couple of PDFs depicting how the western and eastern halves of the Parkway could be developed.

| Philadelphia Daily News: "Rethinking the Parkway" section |
| PDFs: Eastern half :: Western half |

Philadelphia views: 1800 - 1960 - 2000

Someone in the Phillyblog.com forums posted a link to a wonderful site that collects engravings and photographs of spots in Philadelphia as they looked in 1800, 1960 and 2000. The changes and continuities are truly intriguing to view.

| Birch's Views of Philadelphia |

Update: Tax breaks for Comcast Tower

Following up on the previous post about the future of Philadelphia's skyline:

| Philadelphia Inquirer - "Tax breaks for two projects advance" |

Future Philadelphia Skyscrapers?

Skyscraper proposals have been swirling around this city lately. Some of them are residential in nature while others are designed to convince high-profile companies (e.g., Comcast) to stay put. The viability of these proposals depends, in part, on whether developers and tenants receive significant incentives and tax-breaks to make their commitment worth their while.

One particular area of debate with commercial developments is the creation of "Keystone Opportunity Zones" (KOZ) that would give tenants significant tax-breaks for occupying these new developments. The typical KOZ break includes a 10 or 15 year tax-free period. This has caused significant debate that can be sketched out quickly in this way:

KOZ tax-breaks will bring high-occupancy tenants and construction projects to the city leading to an increased number of Center City workers and development that will have a long-term economic impact on the area. Additional employees would pay the city wage tax and spend some of their funds in the city. vs.

The loss of tax-revenue allowed by the KOZ breaks will outweigh the economic impact of tenants and workers that would rather escape the city and spend their time and dollars in their suburban neighborhoods. In particular, the loss of revenue would be most damaging to the school district.

Many Philadelphians are worried that long tax breaks will cut off an important source of revenue for the city and replace it with the less predictable economic impact associated with office workers dwelling in the city. With this in mind, Councilman W. Wilson Goode Jr. has introduced an alternative incentive package for some of these proposed developments.

The city is about to undertake significant budget and city service cuts as a result of a shortfall in revenue. It is no longer clear that wage tax breaks that were going to be implemented in the coming years will, in fact, be implemented. Will the creation of KOZ tax breaks help or hinder the city's revenue?

Here are renditions of some of the new proposed developments in the works. Some hinge on the tax break situation, some do not while others are still in the earliest stages of their development.

• One Pennsylvania Plaza
  (commercial, 17th and JFK Blvd, Comcast Tower)
• Cira Centre
  (commercial, next to 30th St. Station)
  web site
• Philadelphia World Trade Square
  
  (commercial)
  web site
• CityCenter Tower
  (residential, off City Hall)
• 1441 Chestnut
  (residential)
  web site
• Symphony House
  (residential, Broad and Pine, near Kimmel Center)
  article
• 17th and Vine
  (unknown)

For those of you interested in the nitty-gritty details, here are some dueling reports to consider:

• The developers of the 17th and JFK Comcast Tower have posted a commissioned analysis of the economic benefits of their project (PDF),
• while the Center City Owners Association has posted a commissioned analysis outlining the potential demerits of the 17 & JFK and Cira Centre projects (PDF).

Visual Collections

I bumped into a wonderful site that collects hundreds of thousands of "maps, fine artwork, photographs and other items from over thirty renowned collections." These are not simple jpg images, however. You will need to use their Insight Browser or Java client in order to search and zoom in to view the fine details.

The Visual Collections site from Cartography Associates contains dozens of digital image collections from Museums, Universities and private collections throughout the world. Our mission is to encourage the development of future collections and facilitate their worldwide distribution to both scholars and the general public.

Cartography Associates strives to provide an on-line environment wherein all types of digital collections from a wide range of resources can be seamlessly fused together into one large, comprehensive collection.

| Visual Collections |

Skyscrapers, Thesaurus and GWB

Alright, alright...

...I should be more diligent with my posting. In the meantime, here are some fresh links to some noteworthy places:

The Skyscraper Museum's Web Projects: Includes Flash interfaces mapping the Manhattan skyline and its transformations through time.

Visual Thesaurus: hours and hours of fun with language. A trial version of ThinkMap's spidery thesaurus.

Whitehouse.org: Just go and visit.

More writing and less link listings in the future, I promise (or is that, "threaten").

Free Library of Philadelphia: Renovation and Expansion

As some of you know, the Free Library of Philadelphia recently selected Moshe Safdie and Associates Inc. to undertake an expansion of its Central Branch at Logan Circle. The Free Library is one of two buildings in Logan Circle that are replicas of those in the Place de la Concorde in Paris (the other being the Family Court building).

The current building was designed in the Beaux-Arts style by architects Horace Trumbauer and Julian Abele and it opened in June 1927.

You can take a look at the selected design and the other three finalists at the Free Library's site. I have not studied them too long but some initial observations:

The Safdie design looks pleasantly airy and light, but I am worried about the curvy, organic shapes becoming too much of a contrast with the neighboring Family Court and at odds with the staid character of Logan Square. Though some might say, "great -- about time."

Also, all designs seem to have the bulk of their construction and visual impact on the north side of the site. This would, in essence, tuck the design away from view. Anyone familiar with the north side of the library knows that this is a visual blind spot.

This said, I think the Safdie addition seems graceful and the least ponderous of the four. Pretty happy that the Ten Arquitectos proposal was not the winner.

| Philadelphia Inquirer article on Safdie and Free Library |
| Additional visuals at Safdie site |

My Architect: A Son's Journey

Just came back from the Ritz 5 after viewing My Architect: A Son's Journey and chatting a bit with D.C. about it. This is a documentary about architect Louis I. Kahn made by his son, Nathaniel.

It is a wonderful film and not, as you may suspect given the themes of this blog, only because it surveys and discusses Kahn's architectural works and battles. The documentary gracefully allows other themes to bubble to its surface without any apparent dramatic manipulations. These themes include:

- the tension between pragmatic/political pressures and the artistic ambitions of architecture
- a clear-eyed resistance against "great, misunderstood artist" interpretations
- an unforced exposition of how families create myths and narratives to make sense of their lives

In a woeful nutshell, Kahn's works exhibit a reverence for the inherent properties of the materials used in his structures paired with a generous and gracious use of space allowing light and human movement to interact with these materials. You can view several of his works and plans at the Architectural Archives of the University of Pennsylvania. You can also find some images of his best known works here.

The film presents interviews and conversations with several figures ranging from architecture icons such as Philip Johnson and I.M. Pei to former lovers to cab drivers that used to shuttle him around Philadelphia. The profile that emerges from all these discussions is incomplete and often contradictory, yet nevertheless illuminating.

Two aspects of Kahn struck a chord. He rarely settled in one place for long, preferring to travel to and fro and to remain holed up in his office rather than to interact with human beings -- though for a hermit, he did manage to leave a couple of children from extra-marital relationships. His nomadic nature is, in essence, an example of how to be a modern flâneur. It also presents a paradox in his character -- though he preferred not to engage with inter-personal relationships in a sustained fashion, one of the central motivations of his work was to create spaces were people could live with inspiration.

Finally, the film's treatment of Kahn's participation in the design and construction of the Capital Complex in Dacca, Bangladesh is, simply put, an emotional knock-out. The presentation of the building (and, I would assume, the building itself) is stunning. Kahn was often involved in the design of religious or political structures though his motivations for his involvement were focused on providing people with an inspiring space rather than with the endorsement of any particular religion or political structure.

Near the end of the film, Nathaniel discusses the Assembly Building with a Bangladeshi architect he meets inside the building. This architect delivers an emotional, loving account of Kahn and the ultimate impact of the building. It is a powerful account and it helps us understand many of the previous themes explored by the film in one crystalline, beautiful moment. I have to find this architect's name -- I'll post it when I do.

Highly recommended.

| Louis Kahn @ Great Buildings.com | Salk Institute by Louis Kahn |

Supply and Demand

I guess I'm a bit confused about how developers in the process of building new residential and office towers in Center City Philadelphia made the ultimate decision to go ahead and build.

It's a well-known fact that Philadelphia is suffering from a population drain -- most of that drainage going to the immediate suburbs. In addition, demand for office space is shrinking and companies with existing leases in Center City want to shrink their existing office spaces.

So, population drain + low demand for commercial space + existing companies shrinking their office space = less aggressive construction and development initiatives....right?

No. As you can see by paging through the blog, major construction initiatives are popping up all over the Center City cityscape. I understand that unlike the rest of the city, Center City itself is actually experiencing residential population growth, but signs are clear that there is little demand for commercial space that would justify the current construction and development projects.

What gives? Someone explain this to me? Is it part of that maverick, risk-taking entrepreneurial spirit that infects the land?

| Center City Data: Neighborhood-by-Neighborhood (PDF) |

More Entries about Buildings and Food

Well, not really - no food here. It is about another new building in the works in Philadelphia -- this time in my neighborhood. You can take a gander at Old City 108.

This is a residential tower in, arguably, one of the most historic areas in the USA. Many developers are securing and trying to sell property before the Old City area in Philadelphia receives historic designation which would make development in the area even more difficult.

Oh, just in case you were wondering: More Songs About Buildings and Food -- good stuff.

Skyscraper Database

I wanted to find out the details about a new skyscraper that looks to be nearing completion at 8th and Walnut. So I did a little creative Googling and found a great resource for architecture-related research: Skyscrapers.com.

For those of you interested in the new skyscraper on 8th and Walnut, it seems that it will be named The St. James and will contain 307 residential apartments with restaurants and retail at the ground level. Given that there is an interesting stretch of restaurants, shops and theaters in the immediate vicinity, let's hope that these new additions will blend in well with the neighborhood.

Official Rendering | Current State

Conflicts of Interest

So, it seems that the City of Philadelphia's Historic Commission has given the Philadelphia Parking Authority permission to demolish three historic buildings on the 1900 block of Sansom Street.

This demolition is part of a project to build an eight screen Ritz film complex, a restaurant, some retail spaces on Sansom St. and over- and underground parking for, at least, 500 cars. The current buildings on Sansom St. would be replaced with: a freight elevator tower, a loading dock, a garbage storage area and the access ramp to the parking spots. However, the commission did give permission with the condition that the facade of the Rittenhouse Cafe be integrated into the design.

Regardless of your views on the merits of this project and regardless of your general views on the tension between preservation and development, one aspect of this deal has to be disseminated widely and discussed:

1. The City Historic Commission gave the Philadelphia Parking Authority the go-ahead to demolish.
2. The Chairman of the City Historic Commission is Michael Sklaroff.
3. Micheal Sklaroff is also the lead attorney representing the Philadelphia Parking Authority.

Sklaroff did recuse himself from the Historic Commission's decision-making process.

That's nice -- but the fundamental problem remains: the city has allowed the chairman of the commission designed to weigh and authorize development initiatives to be the same person who is hired by the Parking Authority and private developers to represent their construction initiatives.

This situation is such a prototypical example of a confilct of interest that I scratch my head and wonder if I am missing some subtlety.

Design Advocacy Group forum

Just came back from a forum organized by the Philadelphia Design Advocacy Group. The group invited the incumbent mayor, John Street (D), and Sam Katz (R), his opponent. Due to a "pressing engagement," Mayor Street could not attend but he was represented (to an extent) by Michael Sklaroff, Chairman of the City Historic Commission and an attorney for Ballard Spahr, Andrews & Ingersoll.

The forum allowed them to present their vision for and analysis of Philadelphia's urban development initiatives while fielding questions from a panel of architects and the audience. I must admit I came in with negative judgments about the Street administration's initiatives; thinking that it had relied on the aura of the Rendell renaissance.

Though the issues discussed are too numerous and complex to outline here, I will offer what I took to be a fundamental difference between them. The Street representative repeatedly stressed that the current administration is concerned with proper, conscientious urban planning, but that it had to be equally as senstive to the "real world, real time" pressures. Major, high-visiblity initiatives such as redeveloping Penn's Landing, bolstering the public transportation network and championing major construction projects has to be tempered by the "realities of the market." Though we would love to have a vibrant Penn's Landing, an efficient and well-utilized public transportation network and architecturally significant buildings, the market to fund and lease these initiatives is simply not there yet. Thus, pragmatism tends to place most of these initiatives on holding patterns.

Sam Katz did attend and the vision he presented for urban development was more ambitious, giving plenty of lip-service to the aesthetic sensibilities of the overwhelmingly urbane and affluent audience. He's in favor of covering up I-95 at Penn's Landing (at an incremental pace dependent on evolving funding) and making the area a predominantly residential enclave rather than another hub for office buildings. He also envisions a more aggressive role undertaken by the city in order to modernize and manage public transportation (Sklaroff basically deferred such initiatives to SEPTA - our regional transit administration).

In a nutshell, Katz presented a more ambitious, aggressive vision and some plans to spark the market forces required to implement it. Sklaroff was more pragmatic and cautious while pointing out that while the Street administration's initiatives do not have the same visibility and "sexiness" factor, they have resulted in tangible quality of life improvements within neighborhoods and within inner city communities.

I, for one, lean toward the Katz vision -- we need to continue the aggressive initiatives begun by Edmund Bacon in the '50 and '60 and by Ed Rendell in the 90's. However, Sklaroff's plea to recognize and to not forget the less sexy initiatives is essential.

Glad I attended.

Airport Design

When I was younger, a highlight of any trip I took involved getting to know the airports and train stations that were part of the trip. Since I lived in Mexico City, the Benito Juarez International Airport became a significant structure early on.

This airport, and many others at that time, had a clean and spare modernist logic. One huge marble hallway allowed the criss-crossing of passengers on the way to the smooth, curved plastic ticket counters. Despite the fact that waiting would be an important component of the experience, the black leather seats sprinkled throughout the hall seemed to be added for the sake of aesthetics rather than convenience.

I feel nostalgia for these types of airports. Their organization and decor drive one toward one central activity: transit. The lack of regional decor or identity within the edifice made it clear that you had entered a conduit. Once you entered the airport, you were invited to shed the sensory memories of the location you had dwelled in. Now, your senses were being purged in preparation for travel to a new locale -- where new sensory data could bombard you and thrill you with the newness of it all. The architecture and organization invited meditation on what was to come.

Nowadays, airports have succumbed to commercialization. The Philadelphia International Airport, for instance, has constructed a mall in the largest and most congested hall of the airport. This makes it difficult to slip into the dreamy anticipation that precedes travelling. Given that this commercial standardization of airports is a trend, airports are losing their ability to focus travellers' attentions on the process of slipping from one environment to another. My city has plenty of Starbucks and Brookstone outlets -- now, they follow me to the airport, on-flight and to the destination's airport.

I miss those spare modernist airports -- and not because of the current, though fading, modernist revival in design and home decor. The current trend in airport architecture makes it more difficult to purge before shuttling your way across the globe. Of course, there are exceptions -- and I would love to catalog those.

| Philadelphia International Airport 1 |
| Philadelphia International Airport 2 |
| Copenhagen Airport 1 | Copenhagen Airport 2 |
| ID-Cafe Thread on Airports and Airport Signs |