CONTEXT - Fall 2018

Fall 2018 – IN THIS ISSUE Explores Social (In)Equity embedded in Philadelphia's urban environment.

FEATURES 12 Managing Change in a City Neighborhood How can developers, governments and communities work together towards a shared outcome?

DEPARTMENTS

16 Equity is the Yeast That Will Make Philadelphia Rise Building inclusivity into the development process

5 EDITOR’S LETTER 6 COMMUNITY 26 BOOK REVIEW 28 EXPRESSION 30 DESIGN PROFILES

20 The Promise of Social Impact Developing a social impact matrix

ON THE COVER Frankford Friends participating in Frankford Pause Park's planting day. Frankford Pause serves as a premeir outdoor event venue and community hub for the Frankford neighborhood of Philadelphia.

Photo: Alexa Bosse of Hinge Collective CONTEXT is published by

AIA Philadelphia

24 Designing for Community Resilience

A Chapter of the American Institute of Architects

in Kensington

1218 Arch Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107

Integrating the design process into a public health crisis

215-569-3186, www.aiaphiladelphia.com.

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Philadelphia, PA 19107 Published SEPTEMBER 2018

AIA Philadelphia | context | FALL 2018 3

2018 BOARD OF DIRECTORS Karen Blanchard, AIA, President John B. Campbell, AIA, ARIAS, RIBA, LEED AP, President-Elect Troy Hannigan, Assoc. AIA, Treasurer Frank Grauman, FAIA, Past President | Secretary Kelly Vresilovic, AIA, LEED AP, Chapter Director Catherine (Katie) Broh, AIA, LEED AP, Chapter Director Paul Avazier, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, NCARB, Chapter Director

Structural Engineering and Design Evaluation of Existing Structures Due Diligence Studies Historic Preservation Expert Testimony Façade Investigation new address effective August 1, 2016

1new 1 Waddress . T H O effective M P S O NAugust S T R E1,E2016 T PHILADELPHIA, PA 19125 215.232.7207 LARSENLANDIS.COM

Soha St. Juste, AIA, Chapter Director Sarah Soh, AIA, LEED AP, Chapter Director Robert Shuman, AIA, LEED AP, Chapter Director Stephen Kuttner Potts, AIA, Chapter Director Sherman Aronson, AIA, LEED AP, Chapter Director Erin Roark, AIA, LEED AP, Chapter Director Jeff Goldstein, AIA, Chapter Director Jeff Pastva, AIA, AIA PA Director Alesa Rubendall, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, PA Director Rich Vilabrera, Jr., Assoc. AIA, Associate Director David Golden, Assoc. AIA, Associate Director Tya Winn, Public Member Rebecca Johnson, Executive Director

CONTEXT EDITORIAL BOARD Rediscover the Many Benefits of Concrete Block.

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

BOARD MEMBERS Wolfram Arendt, AIA, LAYER Architecture 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 Daryn Edwards, AIA, CICADA Architecture Planning Sally Harrison, AIA, Temple University Timothy Kerner, AIA, Terra Studio

Single Wythe Concrete Masonry is not only innovative, it’s also fire safe, affordable and beautiful.

Visit our online Design Resource Center for the very latest in masonry design information - videos, BIM resources, design notes, and CAD and Revit® tools.

Elizabeth Miller, Community Design Collaborative

YOUR LOCAL CONCRETE PRODUCTS GROUP PRODUCER:

Rachel Simmons Schade, AIA, Drexel University

Stephen P. Mullin, Econsult Solutions, Inc. Rashida Ng, RA, Temple University Jeff Pastva, AIA, Bright Common Richard Roark, ASLA, Olin David Zaiser, AIA, Whitman Requardt and Associates LLP

STAFF Rebecca Johnson, AIA Philadelphia Executive Director

resources.concreteproductsgroup.com

Elizabeth Paul, Managing Editor Laurie Churchman, Designlore, Art Director

4 FALL 2018 | context | AIA Philadelphia

EDITOR’S LETTER

DESIGN FOR EQUITY SALLY HARRISON CONTEXT Editor STEPHEN MULLIN CONTEXT Editor DARYN EDWARDS CONTEXT Editor

Urban (in)Equity. We present this issue of Context as Philadelphia

this provides a real opportunity to build inclusivity into the way design

is experiencing one of the most vigorous building booms since the

and development is done.

post-war decades. The population is growing for the first time in a

Examining an effort to pro-actively address design equity, Jeremy

half century, requiring significant investment in (re)building the city’s

Voorhees’ article looks at the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority’s

housing stock, which saw little reinvestment as the city’s population

experiment in weaving the Social Impact Metric into its evaluation of

shrunk. Led by the population growth, businesses are relocating to

design/development proposals for a long-underutilized site at 8th and

the city, constructing new buildings and renovating older spaces for

Vine Streets. The case study reveals the challenge of defining what

traditional and innovative enterprises. Philadelphia is in an extraordinary

actually constitutes “equitable development” and opens the discussion

moment, but the positive benefits of renewed economic growth must

of how it is measured in design. Looking outside Philadelphia for other

be distributed equitably across our urban landscape. Persistently high

paradigms of equity in architectural design, Tya Winn’s photo essay

poverty and unemployment rates, a shortage of affordable housing, and

documents social housing on three continents. Resulting from strong

large areas with weakened neighborhood infrastructure suggests that

partnerships between the public sector and the architect these projects

the rising tide has not lifted all boats.

– though very different from what we find in the US – do not shy away

Our world is changing. All city governments today, and the Kenney administration is no exception, seek to create “economic growth with

from celebrating contemporary design while providing housing for low and moderate income households.

equity.” How can we as architects advance this aspiration using our

Reflecting on his tenure as Deputy Mayor Alan Greenberger looks

vision for the constructed environment? In this issue we delve into this

at gentrification in the context of rebuilding Philadelphia’s century-old

especially complex question, challenging architects, planners and design

housing fabric, and the role a strong, cohesive community can play in

professionals to broaden our scope of concern, recognizing the impacts

managing change. A self-described realist, he identifies the advantage of

of growth on underserved communities, engaging the spectrum of

North Broad Street development to neighboring communities, focusing

constituents in design, and structuring practices that generate places

on the multi-use hub at Broad and Ridge with the Divine Lorraine, the JBJ

that are just and humane.

Soul Homes and People for People’s busy campus as diverse anchors. The

Beth McConnell’s piece lays out the problematic of the large scale, top-down development. Three large city-changing projects now

site is inherently inclusive and urbane combining housing and community institutions, new construction and historic preservation.

underway will build a more sophisticated image in Philadelphia, but

With vision and the will to tackle complex urban problems, we believe

there are concerns that insufficient plans have been made to ensure the

that Philadelphia’s architectural community is poised to build the just

benefits they generate can be reaped by the struggling communities they

and equitable city. n

abut, or to mitigate potential displacement: thinking about addressing

AIA Philadelphia | context | FALL 2018 5

COMMUNITY

Keynote Speakers Toshiko Mori, FAIA Toshiko Mori Architect Toshiko is principal of Toshiko Mori Architect, PLLC and the Robert P. Hubbard Professor in the Practice of Architecture at Harvard University Graduate School of Design, where she was the department chair from ’02- ‘08.

Michael Ford, OMA, Assoc. AIA BrandNu Design / Hip Hop Architecture

October 3-5

The creator of the Hip Hop Architecture Camp, an initiative evolved from years of research that began with Ford’s graduate thesis. The camp aims to increase minorities in architecture and urban planning.

@ BOK Matthew Kreilich, AIA Principal | Snow Kreilich

Join us at Bok in South Philadelphia for The Forum on Architecture + Design! The Forum is the newly rebranded educational and expo event that is replacing the previous Design on the Delaware conference. The Forum is focused on curating multidisciplinary educational content for designers, civic leaders, product manufacturers, technology providers, and real estate developers - all the industries that contribute to shaping our built environment.

Special thanks to Amtrak, the presenting sponsor of the 2018 Forum on Architecture + Design.

As design principal at Snow Kreilich Architects, Matt provides his design leadership on all the firm’s projects.

The firm is AIA’s 2018 Firm Award winner, an honor that recognizes a practice that consistently has produced distinguished architecture for at least 10 years.

Paula Scher Partner | Pentagram Paula is a principal at the distinguished international design consultancy, Pentagram. She has served on the Public Design Commission of the City of New York from 2006-2015 and a recipient of the National Design Award for Communication Design.

Damon Rich Hector 2017 MacArthur Fellow, Damon Rich, is an urban design, planning, and civic arts practitioner. He formerly served as planning director & chief urban designer for Newark, NJ.

Expo Hall www.forum-arch-design.org 6 FALL 2018 | context | AIA Philadelphia

The Expo Hall is the perfect place to meet with vendors and learn about the newest trends and technology shaping our building materials today.

Workshops Programs created to provide a hands-on interactive learning experience.

Part listening and part collaboration, these sessions are sure to keep you engaged and working as a team to solve some of the industry's toughest challenges. Workshop highlights include:

Understanding and Interrupting Bias: Individual and Organizational Strategies Shorter-Gooden Consulting: Kumea Shorter-Gooden, Ph.D.

COMMUNITY AIA Philadelphia

Tour Highlights

Participants will identify and interrupt bias through "upstander" behaviors and will learn what firms and organizations can do to foster inclusion.

Philadelphia Museum of Art Core Project Construction Tour

Practice Innovation + Small Firms

Keast & Hood: Dean Doukakis, Alex Stadel, William Schaeffer, William Childers, Jay Taylor

JAMB Collective: Christian Jordan Working in teams, you'll envision and pitch new practice models aimed at “disrupting” the profession.

Architectural Glass Institute Boot Camp: Storefront Workshop AGI: Stephanie Staub, Matt Fox, Joe McGee Attendees will fabricate a center set, flushed glazed storefront system with guidance from professional glaziers.

Designed by world renowned Gehry Partners the renovation will open up main areaways of the cultural institution while creating a new experience for museum patrons.

Tour of the Metropolitan Opera House Atkin Olshin Schade Architects: Ruthie Embry; Domus Construction: - Robert Malagoli; Powers & Company: Robert Powers Tour the renovation project that will return the historic Philadelphia Metropolitan Opera House to a premier performance venue once again.

500 Walnut: a Boldly Contemporary Architectural Paradigm in Historic Philadelphia

Listening Sessions Bookending lunch each day and taking place in the Exhibit Hall, Listening Sessions are a convenient way to learn during Forum. Session highlights include:

I’ll take “Pennsylvania Energy Code Breakdown” for $400, Matt The Lighting Practice: Matthew Fracassini

Scannapieco Development Corporation and Cecil Baker + Partners A case study on the most luxurious residential offering in Philadelphia.

30th Street Station Facade Restoration Project Amtrak: Ajith Bhaskaran; Wiss Janney Elstner Associates: Edward Gerns; Vega Solutions, Inc: George Bryant: Mark 1 Restoration Co.: Don Seefeldt Amtrak's famous Philadelphia 30th Street Station is currently undergoing an extensive restoration project including the repair and restoration of all the exterior surfaces of the building including the east and west viaducts.

How will the updated Commonwealth of Pennsylvania energy codes impact design?

Transformative Technologies: Interoperability, interfaces and interactions in the new construction site.

City of Philadelphia: Chantal Alvarenga Panelists engaged in developing and implementing leading-edge technologies in construction data collection, control, and transfer will discuss the potentially transformative path forward.

Bresslergroup: A Case Study for the Design of an Interdisciplinary Innovation Lab Stanev Potts Architects: Petra and Stephan Potts; Bresslergroup: Andrew Weiman A case study in approaching interdisciplinary innovation and crosscollaborative environments.

Networking DesignPhiladelphia Kickoff Party You're invited to join artists, designers, architects, and designsavvy Philadelphians to celebrate our City's love for design. Join us as we take over Bok and kickoff the 14th annual DesignPhiladelpia festiva with design installations, networking, light hor d’oeurves and complimentary beverages. Tickets are FREE to all Forum attendees, but REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED. AIA Philadelphia | context | FALL 2018 7

COMMUNITY Forum on Architecture + Design Oct. 3 – 5 | 7:00 - 5:15 PM This year AIA Philadelphia's annual educational event, the Forum on Architecture and Design, is joining the DesignPhiladelphia festivities at BOK in order to create a platform where makers, fabricators, and designers can meet and exchange ideas with the Greater Philadelphia architecture, engineering, and construction community. Afternoon keynotes are open to the public.

THU OCT.

See more details about the Forum on pages 6-7.

DesignPhiladelphia Kickoff Party!

Oct. 3 | 5:30 - 9:00 PM Paula Scher Keynote begins at 4:15 PM Mingle with Philly’s design elite at BOK Bar. at the DesignPhiladelphia Kickoff Party. Come early to attend a talk by the world-renowned graphic designer behind the new Philadelphia Museum of Art brand, Paula Scher, of Pentagram and stay late to enjoy food and beverage from local foodie favorites like honeygrow, Poi Dog Philly, Pierogie Kitchen, Yards, and Philadelphia Distilling. You can also catch your first glimpse of the Experiential Exhibit Gallery with installations by the City's design schools and up and coming Philly designers from the first annual Best In Design competition.

Tickets: $30-$75, Forum attendees are FREE with registration. *Registration is required.

Experiential Exhibit Gallery Oct. 3 – 12 | 3:00 - 7:00 PM most nights DesignPhiladelphia will be filling the first floor of BOK with interactive design installations and programs throughout the Festival. Student exhibitions from a mix of departments from title sponsor Jefferson and JeffDesign; Temple University, Tyler School of Art Architecture Department; Drexel Product Design and Drexel Design Research Departements; UPenn Integrated Product Design, and the newly reorganized UArts Design Department can be viewed throughout the Girls Gym, hallways, and workshop space. Upon entry into the Girls Gym attendees will walk through A 3D printed hanging light installation by new to Philly designers Budmen Enterprises.

Towers featuring AIA Philadelphia’s member projects will be scattered throughout the building and a special exhibit

by Mexican ceramic designer, an international collaboration between DesignPhiladelphia and Design Mexico, will also be on view.

Best in Design Competition On Display in the Experiential Exhibit Gallery Announcing our first ever “Best in Design” competition, a new challenge that asks regional designers and design companies to submit innovative, high-quality products that make life better. View all the entrants and find out who wins the Best in Design!

Old City Neighborhood Design Crawl Oct. 5 | 5:00 - 9:00 PM Philadelphia Design District: Sensory Design Oct. 6 | 6:00 - 9:00 PM Old City, the original DesignPhiladelphia neighborhood, is locking down a number of can’t miss events. This year the Philadelphia Design District, a newly founded collective initiated by independent business owners, will offer a series of showcases and events on Sensory Design. This eclectic community of shops, boutiques, art galleries, and bistros is a community presenting the best in creativity and design in the vibrant and dynamic neighborhood of Old City.

8 FALL 2018 | context | AIA Philadelphia

PHOTO: CHRIS KENDIG

SAT. OCT.

COMMUNITY

#DPKidsFest Oct. 6 | @ Smith Playground, Times TBD Oct. 7 | @ Barnes Foundation, Times TBD Through an exclusive partnership with Smith Playground and the Barnes Foundation, DesignPhiladelphia is taking its kids programming on the road the first weekend of the Festival. Families will find four hours of family-friendly programming. Full schedule of programs will be announced closer to the date of the Festival.

SUN. OCT.

PHOTO: JEN CLEARY

October 3–13 Klip Collective: No Savesies

Rational Dress Society and Lia Talks Oct. 10 | 6:00 - 8:00 PM Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA) joins the Festival with two great talks featuring Rational Dress Society, contemporary fashion designers pushing the boundaries of fashion, politics, and identity and Lia, a women’s health startup that invented the environmentally-friendly flushable pregnancy test, also a Best in Design participant.

Don't miss your chance to

BOK Night Oct. 12 | 3:00 - 9:00 PM The South Philly neighborhood design crawl features a chance to explore BOK during the tenant open house. In addition to the Experiential Exhibit Gallery and other events in the works for that evening, submissions from the AIA Film Challenge will be on view in the auditorium.

FOMO in check.

THU OCT.

SAT. OCT.

Collab Presents: Klip Collective Oct. 13 | 3:00 - 5:00 PM Collab, a group of design professionals and enthusiasts who support modern and contemporary design at the PMA, continues to focus their DesignPhilly programming on local designers making an impact all over the world with a special talk by Ricardo Rivera, the video and light artist and co-founder of Klip Collective. Riding the success of their Nightscape installation at Longwood Gardens, Klip comes to the Festival fresh off the opening of Electric Desert: A Light and Sound Experience commissioned by the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix, AZ.

SUN. OCT.

catch the largest collection of design-focused programming in Philadelphia. Use this handy guide to keep your

See you in October!

Special thanks to Jefferson, the presenting sponsor of the 2018 DesignPhiladelphia Festival.

www.designphiladelphia.org AIA Philadelphia | context | FALL 2018 9

PHOTO: SARAH TODD

COMMUNITY

BY REV. REBECCA BLAKE High ceilings, moveable furniture, and 200 industrial light bulbs make Beacon’s sanctuary multi-functional and welcoming.

“If you had a 5,000 square foot building and large green space, what would you want to see in it that would benefit the neighborhood?”

I spent a lot of time asking that question as I met with neighbors, clergy, nonprofit directors, shop owners, and educators living and working in the Fishtown/Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia in 2011 when Beacon was at the brink of closing or reinventing itself.

Those involved in the discernment process — myself, Broad Street Ministry staff, and the Presbytery of Philadelphia—began with this question of how to best steward the 13,000 square foot property of Beacon Presbyterian Church in the midst of an incredibly dense urban neighborhood. I listened, tallied answers, and (with some other brave folks) crafted program offerings that convened gifts and skills to meet the needs identified by our neighbors.

Over the years, that has looked like approachable, family-friendly, LGBTQ+ affirming worship services, after-school programming and family events that use storytelling and art as vehicles for community growth, meals, urban gardening, service learning education, and more. These programs led us to grow into a faith community of 25 members and a wider, secular programmatic community of well over 100 families.

Beacon’s building has evolved over 147 years, starting as a small one-story church, expanding to include more stories and an immense, domed sanctuary, only to shrink again to a one-story building in the 1950s after Hurricane Hazel left the dome damaged beyond repair. Now, instead of a 1,000-seat sanctuary, an expansive front yard, including trees, flowers, and raised

10 FALL 2018 | context | AIA Philadelphia

garden beds stretches from Beacon’s front door to Cumberland Street.

The current sanctuary, which looks more like a banquet hall, has an industrial feel to it with angled twelve-pane windows and high ceilings.

We’ve tried to work with that aesthetic rather than against it, taking up red carpet, putting pews on wheels, hanging a light installation of 200 industrial light bulbs from the ceiling, and adding colorful abstract banners painted by community members to make the worship space multi-functional and welcoming.

At the turn of the 20th century, Beacon Presbyterian Church was known as a true community hub, providing early education for children, higher education for adults, music performances, and assistance to a nearby health clinic. As neighborhood demographics shifted from predominantly Protestant to Catholic, Beacon Presbyterian struggled to pivot with those changes, and ultimately closed.

In 2015, the community of Beacon, neighbors and residents of the Fishtown/ Kensington neighborhood chose to become a Presbyterian congregation once again, this time with a commitment to serving as a community hub like it had a century prior. In 2017, we worked with the Community Design Collaborative and our neighbors to renew the conversation of what is possible in this space.

What if we dreamed bigger than what one small congregation could provide programmatically and thought creatively about a mission-aligned partner who might want to provide services to the residents of 19125?

The community conversation was energetic and enthusiastic, and led us to three clear priorities: development of the green space into a more usable community space; children’s education; children’s healthcare. Those are the things our neighbors articulated as deep desires and needs in the neighborhood, and from our beginning, we have committed our programming, efforts, and budget to meeting the needs of our neighbors.

So, what now? The opinions are in and tallied, the beautifully-executed feasibility study is printed and bound, and the adventure continues as we search for the right partners to bring one or more of those dreams to life. We’re searching for a community-minded developer; an organization committed to community green spaces, children’s education, or children’s healthcare; and capacity-building funds and capital funds. We hope to meet them soon and collaborate on this adventure taking place on Cumberland Street. n Rev. Rebecca Blake is Pastor and Co-founder of Beacon. The Community Design Collaborative’s Sacred Places/Civic Spaces Design Challenge is exploring how sacred places like Beacon can support civic engagement, social cohesion, and neighborhood equity. Join us on December 4, 2018 for the public reveal of ideas and designs for three sacred places in Philly. Learn more at www.sacredplacescivicspaces.com

COMMUNITY

reMAKE = reSET + reNEW NOTE; CHAD’s five-year charter is up for renewal this year. All Philadelphia charter schools must abide by the renewal process.

Throughout the 2017-2018 school year the school was audited, visited, and evaluated

by The Philadelphia School District’s Charter School Office (CSO). After this phase, the CSO makes a recommendation to the School Reform Commission (SRC). The SRC disbanded effective July 31st, 2018. It has been replaced by the new, local Philadelphia School District’s Board of Education.

In early June 2018, CHAD received notice from the CSO that based on a flawed rubric; it would recommend non-renewal of our charter to the SRC. At the last SRC meeting, CHAD had the opportunity to present testimony on its behalf. Supporters protested outside, filled the room (and the overflow room). CHAD’s Interim CEO, Jacqueline Barnett, and Director of Design Education, Andrew Phillips, presented testimony.

What follows is Andrew Phillips’ threeminute testimony.

Good Afternoon.

My name is Andrew Phillips. I am the Director of Design Education at CHAD. I am an awardwinning architect with degrees from Penn State and Harvard. I taught architecture at the University of Pennsylvania for 15 years. Ten years ago I left to join CHAD. There is no other school in this city or this country that accomplishes what CHAD achieves.

I know, because I frequently share what we do with educators from around the country. CHAD is at the vanguard of a national movement in K-12 design education.

What I didn’t know when I started, what I’ve learned from CHAD, is this: Design Education is a vehicle for social change. Urban minorities continue to be grossly underrepresented in design fields. We change that. We elevate students.

This is why you should support our renewal.

At CHAD, we follow a three-step design process.

Context, Create, Critique.

THIS IS OUR CONTEXT: DOUBT We have no feeder schools. We are not a special admit school. We run an open lottery.

Students arrive from over 50 zip codes, often with little or no art education. The vast majority arrives significantly below grade level proficiency in math and literacy.

Students often arrive convinced of what they can’t do. They’ve been hearing it for years. You can’t read. You can’t write. You can't do math. You’re not very smart. Their scores back them up. They’ve lived into this judgment and assumed this identity.

Yet, we graduate over 90% of our students.

Over 80% are admitted into colleges and over 60% pursue design fields. How? THIS IS WHAT WE CREATE: CONFIDENCE What you can’t see from here, from where you sit, is a wall that is more than 100 feet long.

This wall is filled with student design work. It is a celebration of achievement.

Students arrive nervous, excited, scared.

They tell me, I don’t know how to do this. I’ve never done this before.

I respond, I know. Isn’t that cool. It’s a clean slate. No baggage. No judgments. Let’s go. Think with your hands. Trust your hands.

Trust your instincts.

Students make and therefore learn. By senior year many are producing design work on par with college level work.

I tell them this. They don’t believe me. They visit colleges. They walk through the studios. A student says, Mr. Phil, this looks like what we do in your class.

This is an important moment. This child has grown. Once convinced of his or her deficiencies, he or she now visualizes sitting on that stool, at that desk, in that college. The student understands what they see and that they belong in that future.

We hear the same feedback from colleges.

They review student portfolios. They recognize college level work. Admission and significant scholarships follow.

THIS IS OUR CRITIQUE: YOUR RUBRIC IS INCOMPLETE The rubric does not incorporate what I’ve just described because it can’t. What I’ve just described can’t be empirically measured.

When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a valid measure. CHAD is not perfect. No high school is. Your team has identified things to fix. We will. But....If you do not renew CHAD’s charter, based upon this flawed rubric, • you will silence Philadelphia’s leadership in the national design education dialogue • you will deny students their right to think with their hands • you will close a doorway to social change through design education Students will lose the school where they find their voice and design their future.

NEXT The SRC voted, 3 to 1, to approve the recommendation for non-renewal. This would, under normal circumstances, begin a yearlong review process to consider the non-renewal and potential loss of the charter. However, the CSO contacted our Interim CEO that same afternoon.

They have met several times since to discuss corrective actions and the review process start date has been deferred.

With this reprieve, we are hard at work, ‘righting our ship’. This means correcting the items the CSO took issue with while continuing to excel at what we do better than anybody: engaging and educating Philadelphia students through the power of design thinking and introducing them to creative career opportunities.

CHAD approaches its 20th anniversary in 2019. Please support our work as we reset, renew, continue CHAD as the flagship of K-12 design education. n

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MANAGING CHANGE IN A CITY NEIGHBORHOOD A REALIST'S POINT OF VIEW

BY ALAN GREENBERGER THE DYNAMICS OF URBAN CHANGE When I was Deputy Mayor, I was invited to spend an evening with a community group in a southwest neighborhood of Philadelphia. The community was largely African American and was struggling with jobs and opportunity. The group wanted to know about economic development. We had a good conversation over pizza and soda. But towards the end, the group’s leader said to me, ‘Can gentrification be stopped?’ - a question that is really a myriad of questions.

I said that I thought that the answer was both ‘yes’ and ‘no’. The ‘no’ part was based on my belief that urban neighborhoods are always going through change that is a product of cultural, demographic and economic shifts. These changes happen in the context of a free market that government can regulate somewhat, but in the long term, cannot really control, in large part because government cannot, and in my view should not, be making decisions that should be made by individuals, families and businesses. I said that if you or your family had bought a house decades ago and someone is offering to buy it from you for 10 or 20 times what you paid, you have an absolute right to take the money and do something else. And to the extent that such acquisitions result in redevelopment of old houses, the community gains. In a city dominated by rowhouses, many of which are over 100 years old and are, by their very nature, in need of attention, reinvestment in these properties is critical. Except for publicly sponsored basic system repair programs for homes that are owned by people too poor to repair what is necessary, the public sector is in no position to take on the magnitude of the reinvestment that would be necessary to keep these buildings viable for decades to come.

But there is also a ‘yes’ answer here. I told them that in the face of change, cohesive, well-organized neighborhoods have a much better chance of slowing the pace of change, managing its impacts, and, perhaps most importantly, defending against unscrupulous speculation and panic selling. By well-organized, I certainly was referring to community organizations – civic associations, church groups, and social clubs. But I was also referring to the need for people to simply know their neighbors and look out for one another.

A cohesive neighborhood is one in which people pick up the litter, keep eyes AIA Philadelphia | context | FALL 2018 13

on the street, watch after the kids and shovel the snow off of the sidewalks of their elderly or infirm neighbors without be asked to do so. When gentrification pressures happen, cohesive neighborhoods give community members a chance to exchange views, make plans, calm down any inclination to panic-selling, meet with developers and relay expectations, monitor and respond to progress, and work with city officials to mitigate impacts such as increased real estate taxes due to increasing valuations.

At the same time, when neighborhoods change, there is more going on than simple economics. Social bonds that might have linked people together begin to fray. Religious congregations – historically a source of community cohesion – begin to lose members. People age and die, many times with their children having moved away or having no interest in the old neighborhood. Renters, who live at the bottom of the housing-rights ladder, are faced with rent increases that are unmanageable and have to move on. Stores that served a particular culture are no longer relevant and can’t stay in business. These conditions happen with any wholesale change, regardless of whether the neighborhood gets richer or poorer.

Faced with this dynamic - an inevitable result of a city that is not stagnating, and Philadelphia is not stagnating – what other factors can contribute to neighborhood stabilization that make change, if it happens at all, more manageable?

FOCUS ON NORTH BROAD STREET During the Nutter administration, we were given an opportunity by the Rose Foundation, working through the Urban Land Institute, to focus on a particular aspect of the city that needed redevelopment.

We chose to focus on North Broad Street, and in particular the first mile of it from Center City to the Temple main campus. Our interest arose from several opportunities that we perceived: 1) the possibility that this section of North Broad Street could be an inviting common ground to existing neighborhoods east and west of it, 2) the possibility of capitalizing on Temple’s strength as an anchor institution if it could connect more strategically to the economic strength of Center City, and 3) the possibility of preserving a great collection of structures that could serve both existing and new uses in a dynamic urban corridor. We were mindful that North Broad Street is much bigger than this first mile. But we proceeded with the belief that connecting ‘strength to strength’ was the right place to start.

For me, this was not a new topic. I had been heavily involved as an architect in the Temple University Master Plan of 2008 and, prior to that, as lead planner for a study about Broad Street on behalf of the Center City District and the Avenue of the Arts. During that work, we came to understand that many of Philadelphia’s major streets had become dividers between neighborhoods and were relegated to miscellaneous, auto-centric uses that robbed them of their vitality. This section of North Broad Street typified that problem. But in amongst the drive-thru fast food operations, gas stations and car repair places, were institutions and structures that were still there that could provide the seeds of renewal.

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RENOVATING THE DIVINE LORRAINE The ‘crown jewel’ of these structures was the abandoned and heavily graffitied Divine Lorraine Hotel, a magnificent building that I dubbed the ‘The Billboard of Blight’. The Divine Lorraine probably absorbed more of our attention than any other project in the city. I felt strongly that its deteriorated condition was an absolute barrier to any further investment for blocks around it. And, without such investment, North Broad Street could never regain the prominence and urbanity that it once had and should have again to the benefit of the surrounding neighborhoods.

We worked quietly behind the scenes for four years to get the Divine Lorraine into redevelopment. I even had a senior member of my staff whose primary job was to manage every step of the process to get this project ‘into the starting gate’. Thanks to those efforts and the dogged pursuit of the project by its developer, Eric Blumenfeld, we succeeded. Our success, and the now likely redevelopment of the vacant land behind the Divine Lorraine, lead to this inevitable question: “Are you concerned that these successes will gentrify the area and ultimately displace poorer residents?”

THE VALUE OF STRONG NEIGHBORHOODS AND INSTITUTIONS Every neighborhood has a different story and a different cast of personalities that can influence the answer to that question. For North Broad Street, I am optimistic that the rate of change will be slow – and therefore manageable – and that the disruption will not be as profound as we have seen in some Philadelphia neighborhoods. Several factors that are particular to this area are at work.

Chief among them is what I believe to be a very cohesive neighborhood to the east in the Poplar/Ludlow/Yorktown area. Much of the area was a product of Model Cities development in the 1960s. I don’t know the people who live there well enough to know for certain of this, but I do have the strong impression that their cohesiveness as a community, coupled with a distinct neighborhood architectural character, now complemented by decades-old, mature street trees, will put them in a position to push back against irresponsible development and speculation.

That said, I am aware of pressures in their neighborhood where houses are being sold to investors who then populate those houses with students. I have little doubt that on occasion, there are more students living in a single household than the law allows. The City needs to do a better job of enforcing zoning laws that limit occupancy.

But even if no laws are being broken, the fact is that such change can be disruptive. Something as simple as students coming home late, making noise in a neighborhood that goes to sleep earlier, is problematic and deeply upsetting to residents who have made a decent life for themselves in the neighborhood. The district councilman, Council President Clarke, is sensitive to these issues. His vigilance, coupled with the neighborhood’s organized ability to express its concerns (and communicate them directly to their new neighbors) is an asset.

MAP DATA: GOOGLE, DIGITALGLOBE

The other assets that will help mitigate the consequences of change are the substantial presence of several important not-for-profit institutions. A quick survey of the intersection at Broad and Fairmount demonstrates this point. One one corner is the Greater Exodus Baptist Church – a congregation of long standing and both a religious and social anchor in the neighborhood. The church controls considerable property on the block and has a long history of using that property for community benefit, such as the People for People Charter School.

Immediately behind them, and within view of the intersection, is the JBJ Soul Homes, a relatively new building developed by Project Home, to house those previously homeless. Like Greater Exodus, Project Home’s reputation for social good is considerable. They are working with Greater Exodus to develop a locally owned and operated food service/restaurant in the ground floor retail area of the facility. If successful, that facility will employ local residents.

On the opposite side of Broad Street from Greater Exodus is the Philadelphia Headquarters of the Salvation Army, including their Red Shield Residence for families in need of emergency housing. The Army, long known for both their religious mission and their disaster relief efforts, has been at this corner for decades. Their commitment to the city is evidenced in their work at this site, but also through other residential and community service facilities throughout the city, including the Kroc Corps Community Center in the Tioga/Nicetown neighborhood, not far from their headquarters.

THE ROLE OF TEMPLE UNIVERSITY Further up Broad Street of course is Temple University. And though Temple has had its share of controversy with its neighbors over the years, the university’s presence as an anchor institution places another important and stable voice in the conversation about urban dynamics and the market forces that can create anxiety among community members. Any large institution like Temple is bound to attract its critics.

It can’t help but impact the quality of life around it, especially given that its constituency – faculty and students – come to it from across the city and country, not just from the immediate neighborhoods. And,

like any institution, mistakes get made that further damage community relationships.

However, Temple’s asset value is enormous. With 40,000 students and many thousand employees at both the main campus and medical campus further up Broad Street, it is a major economic engine and source of employment in the city. It is also one of the city’s premier access points for affordable higher education. And, as a public institution of long-standing, it knows it has obligations to the wellbeing of the area around it. Its agenda and initiatives may diverge from some of those in the neighborhoods, but it simply cannot hide from these debates. The debates may be heated from time to time, but the debates will at least occur.

CONCLUSION Inevitably, change is disruptive, but it is also unrelenting. The key to minimizing the disruption is not, as some people would suggest, the enactment of laws or regulations to stop it. Such actions will backfire and only lock neighborhoods in need of new investment into a downward spiral of disinvestment. The real key is to manage the pace of change by ensuring that communities know what is happening and have an opportunity to consider and react to proposed redevelopment.

The changes that are occurring on North Broad Street are a work in progress. Hopefully, they will demonstrate that cohesive neighborhoods, strong, socially conscious institutions and effective governmental engagement can manage change in ways that can welcome investment and redevelopment, both from within a neighborhood and outside of a neighborhood, while protecting the interests of long-term community members. It’s not a simple prescription and it takes effective leadership and the willingness of all parties to work together. But it is possible. n Alan Greenberger FAIA is the Head of the Department of Architecture, Design and Urbanism at Drexel University and a Fellow of the Lindy Institute for Urban Innovation. Previously, he served as the Philadelphia Deputy Mayor for Planning & Economic Development under Mayor Michael Nutter, following 34 years in practice with Mitchell/Giurgola Architects and its successor, MGA Partners.

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PHOTOS: BETH MCCONNELL

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EQUITY IS THE YEAST THAT WILL MAKE PHILADELPHIA RISE

BY BETH MCCONNELL

Three projects that will have enormous impacts on their surrounding neighborhoods—and Philadelphia overall— advanced in 2018. The Rail Park, a 3-mile trail inspired by New York City’s High Line, opened its first quarter mile section. A project to cap Interstate 95 at Penn’s Landing and build a new public park advanced the design of a section of the Delaware River Trail.

Schuylkill Yards, a $3.5 billion project that will create an entirely new neighborhood near Drexel University, was named as one of three sites in Philadelphia in the running to become the new home of online retailer Amazon.

These projects are emblematic of a transforming Philadelphia.

They promise big changes, offer bold vision, and turn spaces that are liabilities into assets. Unfortunately, they also lack equity for communities that can be hurt by redevelopment. Equity should be the ingredient that is baked into projects like these from the moment they are envisioned. All stakeholders should embrace a vision for equitable development, from the developers to the lenders, architects to landscape designers, policy makers and philanthropists, neighborhood residents and community institutions, and everyone in between. Because equity is the yeast that will make all of Philadelphia rise. Without equity, we deepen the inexcusable inequality that exists in Philadelphia today, created by decades of development decisions that disadvantaged low-income communities, including communities of color.

What is “equity”? Policy Link, a national leader in advancing racial and economic inequality, published in its Equity Manifesto a definition of “just and fair inclusion into a society in which all can participate, prosper, and reach their full potential.” The manifesto addresses the role of race and oppression, and understanding the

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PHOTO: BETH MCCONNELL

past as we chart a new future. Policy Link’s Jeremy Liu, Senior Fellow for Arts, Culture, and Equitable Development argues that designing and developing with equity as a core intent and purpose benefits society as a whole: “Time and again, we have seen that when policies benefit specific populations, benefits to all of society are realized. For example, ADA-mandated accessibility features like curb cuts were design for persons with physical challenges, but also help business travelers with their rolling luggage, parents with children in strollers, and small businesses delivering goods.”

Schuylkill Yards provides an example of the role big institutions and private developers can play in advancing an equitable city. A partnership between Brandywine Realty Trust and Drexel University, it will transform surface parking lots and rail yards into 14-acres of labs, offices, apartments, retail, a hotel, and public space. A promotional video describes the project as “Where Philadelphia is headed. The next generation neighborhood.” Unfortunately, there are no plans for any affordable homes in this next generation neighborhood, in this place where Philadelphia is headed. The project is immediately adjacent to Mantua, West Powelton and Belmont, which will undoubtedly experience rising rents and home prices that follow an influx of higher income residents. These

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majority black neighborhoods—where the poverty rate is as high as 50 percent—are so economically distressed that the Obama Administration awarded them “Promise Zone” designation, leading to collaborative efforts to reduce violent crime, increase educational attainment, and address needs for housing and economic opportunity.

The equitable way to develop Schuylkill Yards would have Brandywine and Drexel making immediate commitments to affordable homes on site and in the surrounding neighborhoods, and pursuing strategies to prevent displacement of low-income households. They would establish clear goals and plans for how Schuylkill Yards would give nearby residents job opportunities that offer a path out of poverty and low wage jobs. The commitments made so far aren’t enough. Community groups asserted significant pressure on Brandywine and Drexel to extract a $5.6 million grant that will be spent with the guidance of a community board. Drexel has also supported a workforce development program to employ local residents. Those are good first steps, but the residents deserve far more. This project’s Keystone Opportunity Zone (KOZ) designation exempts it from all state and local taxes for a decade; the value of the local property tax exemption alone could exceed $50 million per year. Policy makers should also rethink awarding KOZ

designation to prime real estate, and instead capture the tax revenue generated by Schuylkill Yards to invest in economic and housing opportunities for the existing residents.

The Rail Park is a free and open public park. But it demonstrates why philanthropists and government must boost their investment in the communities that will feel the effects of the project. Homeless shelters and social services organizations are neighbors of the new park, as are light industrial facilities and warehouses that support an immigrant workforce. Asian immigrant institutions include the local church, and the small businesses that form the backbone of Chinatown’s economic and cultural community. John Chin, Executive Director of the Philadelphia Chinatown Community Development Corporation (PCDC) has been sounding alarm bells about the Rail Park for years, “Without a plan to counteract unintended impacts, the increased investment stemming from new green infrastructure, without careful planning, will increase the pace of displacement,” said Chin.

This is a threat the Chinatown community has faced like clockwork every 10 years for the five decades, beginning with the Vine Street expressway and continuing with plans for ballparks and casinos. “Even the identity of the neighborhood, including its immigrant history and low-income residents, have been papered over and recast in ways that focus on the entertainment and art venues and the new restaurants, and in re-naming of the neighborhood itself—"Callowhill”, “Loft District,” “Eraserhood,” and now “Spring Arts,” said Chin.

Engaging the surrounding community in the park’s plans and programming is a critical first step. In an interview with WHYY, Kevin Dow, the Executive Director of Friends of the Rail Park, said: “We want to make sure we pay close attention…to…engage that community, involve them in the creation of future phases, in how we use the park going forward…(to offer programming) residents of the immediate neighborhood really want.” That engagement is increasingly recognized as important by funders like the Knight Foundation, whose Reimagining Civic Commons project aims to create authentic engagement and long-term stewardship for existing community residents when public spaces are invested in. Their idea is that building ownership within the existing community around a park’s improvements means they are better positioned to welcome new visitors instead of feeling threatened.

Key to the equity plan is also recognizing that investments like the Rail Park have a ripple effect outside the park’s boundaries.

That’s something Patrick Morgan of the Knight Foundation sees and is grappling with, “How are you very intentional around the connection of public space capital investment and how it reflects larger neighborhood concerns? Public spaces can help to facilitate community connection, trust, and involvement, but what we’re struggling with is its role in sketching out what responsible development looks like.” A truly equitable plan must extend past the park’s benches and landscaping.

It’s beyond the resources and role of the Friends of the Rail Park

to address the affordable housing needs of the neighborhood, or to protect small businesses that face displacement due to rising rents and a changing customer base. It is, however, within the abilities and role of some of the philanthropists and city officials that help make the park a reality. They can align their grantmaking, spending, and policy in the surrounding community to prevent residential and commercial displacement. Equity requires that as soon as the vision of the Rail Park gets articulated, the surrounding neighborhood is part of that vision, and the planners, funders, advocates, designers, and others commit to bringing their resources to the table.

The I-95 park shows why public policy is needed to ensure low- and moderate-income Philadelphians can enjoy the benefits of massive city investments in public space. This transformative park will connect people to the waterfront by removing roadway barriers, and will re-do the Penn’s Landing concrete-scape to be more welcoming. Private development of 1,500 new residential units, plus retail and hotel rooms, are also planned.

Displacement isn’t the concern here; the immediate surrounding neighborhoods of Old City and Society Hill are higher-income, and the business districts offer goods and services that should benefit from increased foot traffic. But recognize that the huge public investment of $90 million committed by Mayor Kenney will make the accompanying private development much more valuable. Those new residential units will be geared towards wealthy households attracted to living near this stunning waterfront park. Equity requires that the Mayor advance public policy to provide low- and moderate-income residents that opportunity as well, as their tax dollars are being invested in ways that will benefit private developers. A mandatory Mixed Income Housing policy would require a certain percentage of residential units be affordable to tenants under certain income levels.

Securing an affordable homes in a great neighborhood can be life changing, especially for families with children. Research by Harvard University’s Raj Chetty shows that kids in low-income households have a far greater chance at moving up the economic ladder as adults if they grew up in low-poverty neighborhoods.

Historically, advancing equity on big projects like those featured here require organized efforts by local community groups to pressure big developers and public officials to offer community benefits, which can be adversarial at times. We need a radical shift in thinking of the people and institutions with resources and property ownership to not only embrace community needs, but to actively seek them out and bake in equity strategies from the start as a vital component of the projects. Redevelopment can either serve to displace low-income communities to another corner, perpetuating poverty and inequality, or it can be used as a tool for progress and opportunity toward a more equitable Philadelphia. n Beth McConnell is the Policy Director for the Philadelphia Association of Community Development Corporations (PACDC) where she leads PACDC's efforts to advance city, state and federal policies that help CDCs revitalize Philadelphia's neighborhoods and rebuild communities.

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Rendering of initial Pennrose/WRT design

BY JEREMY VOORHEES

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RENDERING: WRT

THE PROMISE OF SOCIAL IMPACT

When the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority (PRA) posted its Request for Proposals for 800 Vine Street in the fall of 2016, it made a bold and enigmatic statement. Amongst the conventional measures of Financial and Project evaluation criteria was the ambiguously defined “Social Impact.” This marked a shift in the way city owned properties might be adjudicated for sale and development. However, it was unclear how impact would be measured. While the parameters for more established criteria, like economic or environmental impact, are clearly codified, social impact was a promising but ambiguous metric for “the way that a physical project can have a positive effect on people and communities.” Yet for the boldness of this question, there were few explicit conditions provided. Instead the PRA granted the designers and developers themselves the opportunity to qualify their potential impact.

Although specific criteria were omitted, the PRA included a set of general responses that would qualify for social impact. The suggested programs include quality Pre-K and afterschool care, affordable housing, and providing access to affordable healthy food. Additionally, the RFP listed creating permanent jobs, as well as investing in local educational, recreational, health, and community facilities as pertinent examples. While the set of programs or the incorporation of similar services could directly influence the physical design of the proposal, the inclusion of “investment” in such services defers that responsibility.

While such a strategy would seem appropriate given the experimental inclusion of Social Impact, it might also seem perilous to those who had followed recent attempts to include social conditions in the development process. The most publicized and problematic demonstration of this difficulty stemmed from an attempt to address affordable housing on a property only a few blocks away: 1 Water Street.

The revamping of the Zoning Code in 2015 established an incentive for affordable housing through the inclusion of the Mixed Income Housing Bonus. The first use of this bonus at 1 Water Street provided an illustrative example of the difficulties of applying a social agenda to economic development.

After the developer, PMC Property Group, agreed to include affordable housing, it was afforded an additional five stories and 30 residential units. However, once PMC had constructed the building, they asked that the affordable housing requirement be waived. After the city withheld the Certificate of Occupancy for the project for one month, PMC agreed to contribute $3.75 million to the Housing Trust Fund instead of providing the agreed upon affordable units.

This concession from the city makes sense from an economic point of view. In this scenario, housing is treated as a commodity and the contributed money will produce more, and more permanent, housing units. However, space is not a commodity, particularly in a city where dense overlaps of multi-modal infrastructure, heterogonous uses, and distinct neighborhoods have developed over centuries. The question becomes, is social equity best framed in economic terms? If framed spatially, we might see this as little more than a sleight of hand where the developer is able to benefit from geographically adjacent public facilities while locating its public contribution elsewhere.

This is the case for 1 Water Street. Located at the base of the Benjamin Franklin Bridge and one block north of the Race Street Pier, it has benefitted greatly from its adjacency to historical and recreational amenities. Promotional materials for the building heavily feature the skyline, bridge, and Delaware River. Additional descriptions of the neighborhood advertise access to public and vehicular infrastructure and numerous local, publicly funded parks.

Parks and infrastructure are primarily, if not exclusively, funded by public money. Clearly, the building has benefitted from the public’s investment in the area. However, when PMC traded a contribution to the Housing Fund instead of including the agreed upon units within the project, it made a clear move to shift any of its own investment in the public good to somewhere off-site, and most likely out of sight.

The prioritization of social impact on the physical project seems

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Aerial photograph of proposed site included in RFP

RENDERING: WRT

strategically designed to confront this specific evasion. The physical presence of a project cannot simply be offset by a contribution somewhere else. Yet even the suggested responses within the RFP, such as affordable housing or the creation of permanent jobs, imply that economic and social conditions form a complex relationship within a single project. While affordable housing emphasizes the social good (potentially to the detriment of the economic benefit), the inclusion of permanent jobs suggests a mutually beneficial relationship.

The City of Philadelphia has attempted to strike a balance between economic development and social good, and the inclusion of Social Impact in the 800 Vine Street RFP is a salient example. The focus on the “physical project” for demonstrating the Social Impact in the RFP suggests that the city is trying to preclude such avoidances as those at 1 Water Street. The 800 Vine Street site was well suited for this test of the new set of Social Impact criteria. The 150,000 sq. ft. plot is adjacent to Philadelphia’s Chinatown neighborhood, within view of the Benjamin Franklin Bridge, and facing the historic “Roundhouse” headquarters of the Philadelphia Police. Owned by the city and used for surface parking, the site was rife with possibilities for development. The size, the local adjacencies, and the city’s ownership of a contiguous majority of the block made its economic potentials obvious.

The call elicited two proposals. Both were explicit about their strategies for shaping their designs in response to the Social Impact metric. Although the extended definition of Social Impact included some generic examples that would suffice, both designs were centered around a specific community or institution uniquely situated to its urban context. The following description compares the two proposals and their alignment with the RFP criteria but does not describe the development of the design since the project was awarded in 2016.

The two responses to the 800 Vine Street RFP, by Parkway Corporation and Pennrose Properties, are both fundamentally similar and radically different. They are similar in their footprints. The SEPTA Regional Rail and Broad/Ridge Subway Tunnels cut through the site and a set of existing buildings occupy the southwest corner.

In response, both projects begin by breaking the site into three component buildings, addressing the three remaining corners. Both schemes propose a mix of parking and green space between them.

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Both projects include a substantial amount of market rate housing and provide approximately 180 parking spaces, while also taking advantage of the Social Impact metric’s inclusion of affordable housing, providing approximately 60 affordable senior units.

The significant differences emerge in their attempt to qualify the social impact of their proposals.

The Parkway Proposal aligns itself with the local community, Chinatown. As a dense neighborhood located adjacent to Center City, the Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corporation (PCDC) has asked the city to acknowledge their need for more open and recreational spaces. This scheme includes an “Intergenerational Playground” and a 5,000 sq. ft. urban farm. This strategy also dovetails with another RFP metric, specific to the design of the project: “Alignment with Local Community/Context: Strength of the proposal’s response to the community.” The RFP provides 20% of its score to this category. The geographic and social adjacencies to the site are clearly leveraged here to demonstrate the project’s potential social impact. Equally important is the proposal’s continuation of the Philadelphia 2035 district level plan, which explicitly calls for connecting Chinatown to Franklin Square through this site.

The Pennrose team organized their proposal around a headquarters for the Equal Justice Center (EJC). The EJC was conceived by the Philadelphia Bar Foundation to collocate legal aid agencies in the city of Philadelphia. The proposed center would provide a hub to legal aid organizations currently spread across the city and allow clients to access a number of different agencies in one location. The initial proposal estimated that ”[t]he EJC will serve over 40,000 individuals and low income families annually from the Chinatown community and the City of Philadelphia in one central location easily accessible via public transit”. It also contends that the design will “provide much needed open space, over 30,000 GSF [Gross Square Feet] of beautifully landscaped area extending pedestrian connections from Chinatown, Franklin Square Park, and Independence Mall”. The initial submission positioned the EJC headquarters on the southeastern corner and the market rate housing on the northeast, with the affordable housing sandwiched between the existing building and a proposed hotel on the northwestern corner.

The design and imagery associated with the two proposals are similarly divergent. The Parkway scheme, designed by Cecil Baker + Partners, limits its height to six stories and adopts a muted palette of

Initial 2016 renderings for Pennrose/WRT (not reflective of 2018 design)

RENDERING: WRT

Initial 2016 renderings for Pennrose/WRT (not reflective of 2018 design)

“In the next four years, and perhaps the next eight, our communities are going to be under attack. The Equal Justice Center to me is a no-brainer.” colors reflective of a residential project. The relatively simple forms hold the street edges and surround the park. The Pennrose design was produced by Wallace Roberts and Todd (WRT) and features 8- to 14-story glass, metal, and stone prisms. As a response to the crisscrossing underground infrastructure, the designers emphasized the fragmented character of the site with a dramatic cut through the center of the design. This also forms smaller exterior spaces along the edges and corners and shapes the folds of the building mass.

Ultimately, the Redevelopment Authority awarded the project to the Pennrose/WRT proposal. Gregory Heller, the Executive Director of the PRA, acknowledged, “The architecture was ambitious and really set the tone for how Philadelphia wants to develop”. The developer, on the other hand, attributed the potential success of the proposal to the EJC, referring to it as “our differentiator.” This sentiment was echoed by Thoai Nguyen, head of a Southeast Asian advocacy group who said, “The tie breaker for me is the Equal Justice Center,” said Nguyen. “In the next four years, and perhaps the next eight, our communities are going to be under attack. The Equal Justice Center to me is a no-brainer.”

If one were to simply pit the social good against the economic good of a project, they might question to what degree the social impact metric actually affected the winning design. The resulting buildings are comprised of a hotel, an office building (occupied by a socially significant client), and an apartment building. Yet, the social and economic impacts of projects are not a zero sum game.

The inclusion of the Social Impact metric is an aggressive move to shape speculative development in service of a common public good.

It is important to remember that although the social and economic imperatives for development are frequently at odds, one should not be simply substituted for the other, nor should we encourage the simple transactional relationship demonstrated at 1 Water Street if we want healthy neighborhoods and communities.

In its introduction, the Social Impact’s unquestionable result is two proposals framed around their fundamental contribution to the city’s communities and neighborhoods. Both projects followed the spirit, not just the letter, of the mandate. Both framed their design of the physical project to embody and express its social good. As the work has progressed, the winning Pennrose/WRT has developed more nuanced and demonstrable metrics while working with the community to reinforce their social commitment.

The city should continue to identify and leverage not only the most economically valuable properties, but also those places that are the most critical to their communities, in continuing to employ the social metric as a parameter for development. Although the property at 800 Vine Street is only the inaugural use of the Social Impact metric, that metric is off to a promising start. n Jeremy Voorhees is a designer and writer focusing on the social and political relationships between architecture and the city. He teaches at Temple University and Drexel University and is Senior Editor of Enquiry, the Journal of Architectural Research Centers Consortium.

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DESIGNING FOR COMMUNITY RESILIENCE IN KENSINGTON

BY PATRICIA CODINA , ZOË VAN ORSDOL

McPherson Square is an anchor of the Kensington neighborhood. It is the site of community festivals, neighborhood cleanups, a park, a playground and a very active library. It is a space where local non-profits, residents, civic institutions, city agencies and service providers rally their resources. It is also at the epicenter of Philadelphia’s opioid epidemic.

Kensington has serious, deeply-rooted and multi-dimensional challenges that have existed for decades. The neighborhood was in crisis before, but the recent opioid epidemic has amplified the challenges and is touching every aspect of life here. The epidemic became even more visible after the dismantling of a homeless encampment along the railroad tracks last summer drove many of its residents into the community. While many from the encampment were linked with housing and drug treatment, the rest have migrated to parks and sidewalks throughout the neighborhood. As the epidemic expands, the number of people active in their addiction setting up camp in the streets of Kensington continues to grow. City agencies struggle to allocate funds and mobilize resources to keep up with the growing need. This situation, understandably, causes stress for the community and poses significant challenges for long-time residents.

Impact Services, a nonprofit community development corporation working in Kensington, is addressing the consequences of the crisis in the community. The opioid epidemic will not be resolved at the local level, but Impact has developed a comprehensive neighborhood plan that proposes community-level responses to help mitigate its effects.

The plan, The Heart of Kensington Collective Impact 2022, provides a framework for understanding and addressing trauma at the population level. The approach is trauma informed community development and is rooted in strategies that help bring neighbors together, build a platform for collaboration among service providers and developers, and sets the stage for working with city agencies and community members in a true collaborative way.

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UNDERSTANDING TRAUMA AND RESILIENCE Trauma refers to extreme stress that overwhelms a person’s ability to cope. It can be a caused by a single event, a series of events, or a chronic condition such as childhood neglect or domestic violence. It can also result from structural violence, such as segregation, food and housing insecurity, and poverty. Trauma is widespread and its effects are varied, deep and long-lasting. It is widely considered one of the most important public health problems in the US today. One third of children are exposed to violence and abuse every year and many millions suffer from other traumas such as living with an addict, having a family member incarcerated, or living with someone with mental illness.

The effects of these exposures are significant and diverse. Trauma affects individuals and families by disrupting healthy development, adversely affecting relationships, and contributing to mental health issues including substance abuse, domestic violence, and child abuse.

Exposure to trauma also impairs brain development in children, particularly the parts that regulate emotion and impulse control.

Communities as a whole can also experience trauma and react in ways that are very similar to the ways in which individuals respond. They can become hyper-vigilant, fearful, and experience the breakdown of social networks and positive social norms across the community. These effects become built into cultural norms and passed from generation to generation. Trauma, therefore, contributes to its own perpetuation both inter-generationally and within communities.

However, not everyone responds to trauma in the same way.

Resilience is the capacity to overcome adversity, to believe that a better future is possible, even when alternatives are not immediately apparent. Resilience varies greatly from person to person and usually depends on the availability of a variety of protective factors that can promote healing. These factors exist in 3 realms: individual, family and community. At the community level, examples include social connectedness, access to health care and quality education, and living

in a safe neighborhood. These factors are integral in helping one cope with trauma.

Trauma informed community development acknowledges that trauma is pervasive in communities that have suffered decades of neglect and disinvestment. Trauma contributes to many of the traditional barriers to community engagement such as lack of trust, antipathy towards change and hopelessness about the future.

Overcoming these barriers becomes key to achieving lasting and sustainable change, and a trauma informed approach provides some guiding principles such as sharing power, ensuring safety, communicating with compassion and earning trust.

DESIGNING FOR RESILIENCE How can urban design be informed by these concepts to help reduce stress, build social cohesion and promote collective efficacy?

Understanding the full impact a space can have on a neighborhood is critical. For example, studies at the University of Pennsylvania have shown that green space have a direct effect on heart rate and stress levels. In neighborhoods affected by stress and trauma, therefore, green space is not merely a nice amenity. It can be a protective factor and affect health outcomes. Designing safe spaces is also extremely important. Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) is an evidence-based, multidisciplinary approach to deterring criminal behavior that focuses on the design of the physical environment.

CPTED has been widely used since the 1970s, based on the belief that the proper design and effective use of the built environment can lead to reduced incidence of crime, increased perceptions of safety as well as improvement in quality of life. CPTED takes into account not only how public spaces are designed, but how we inhabit and use them.

Elements of CPTED include: • Surveillance: Spaces where people can easily see and be seen are safer. “Eyes on the street” provide opportunities for informal surveillance, which is both a crime deterrent and contributes to increased perceptions of safety. Clearly identified paths for access and egress, as well as appropriate lighting also contribute to a sense of safety and increased surveillance.

• Territoriality: A clear differentiation between public and private space, as well as controlled access, help develop a sense of ownership over a space. Potential trespassers perceive this control and are discouraged • Maintenance: Identifying resources for a sustainable maintenance program is key in preserving physical order in public spaces • Activity Support: Both passive and active efforts are needed to promote desired pedestrian activity while discouraging negative behavior. Passive examples are design elements that make an area appealing, such as attractive landscaping, safety from car traffic, shading and public art. Active examples involve scheduling events such as picnics, concerts, children’s play groups, or sports events.

A “second generation” of CPTED principles has developed more recently, moving beyond the physical design of the environment to stress the importance of community participation. The key concepts in this iteration of CPTED are social cohesion, community connectivity and culture. Research has shown that neighborhoods with high rates of social cohesion are safer and healthier than those without.

Furthermore, increased collective efficacy (defined as connectedness among neighbors combined with their willingness to intervene on

behalf of one another) is linked to reduced violence. The ability of members of a community to control the behavior of individuals and groups among them leads to increased safety and order.

Research has identified human connection and access to resources as two significant elements in building both individual and community resilience. These elements can be viewed as protective factors which reduce the impact of trauma, adversity and toxic stress. Therefore, when designing for resilience, we are looking to strengthen the ties within a community and provide a platform for collaboration and sharing of resources. The design process becomes an important tool in achieving this, as important as the final design. Community engagement is not merely an exercise to get feedback on mostly completed ideas, but provides an opportunity for residents to meet and interact with one another, build trust and develop a shared vision of the future of their community. An inclusive design process designed to garner true engagement and build trust with residents is the foundation of this process. To do this effectively, designers must recognize that residents are experts on the needs of their neighborhood and trust that they are capable of developing a vision for their community. In communities like Kensington, with large numbers of immigrant populations, designers should also incorporate cultural factors that influence how people use public space. n Patricia Codina is the Community Development Director at Impact Services where she plans, coordinates, and directs Impact's Community Development initiatives in the areas of community engagement, neighborhood conservation and neighborhood planning.

Zoë Van Orsdol is the Public Health Program Manager for Impact Services where she is a public health specialist and trauma informed project coordinator .

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BOOK REVIEW

HOW TO KILL A CITY: GENTRIFICATION, INEQUALITY, AND THE FIGHT FOR THE NEIGHBORHOOD PETER MOSKOWITZ Nation Books/Perseus/Hachette, 2017

BY MODESTO BIGAS-VALEDON, SOPHIA LEE, AND ERIN K. M. ROARK

The following book review resulted from the AIA Urban Design Committee’s “book club” series. To better serve our community of Philadelphia, we have taken on learning about difficult, often socially and politically charged problems plaguing urban spaces, and how we as design professionals can help craft a solution to building a better Philly. If you'd like to read along and join our conversations, please attend our next urban design committee meeting or event as listed on AIA Philadelphia's events calendar. We’d love to have you!

How to Kill a City / Gentrification, Inequality, and the Fight for the Neighborhood, by Peter Moskowitz is a work of significance for its humanization of gentrification and its impact to society. The methodology employed by the author rests on the biases of class warfare with underpinnings of racism and classism by others. This grouping of others is non-exclusionary to all agents of city building from the public and private sector. Each of the selected case studies – New Orleans, Detroit, San Francisco, and New York – is ripe for the narratives this lens affords. As one follows this journey, there is carefully curated data to back-up the author’s claims, as well as a constant, almost reverential, deference to the teachings of Jane Jacobs.

Where Moskowitz shines is in the interweaving of personal accounts of gentrifiers and gentrified people seamlessly with five decades of empirical research by preeminent geographers, historians, sociologists to make gentrification not just palatable, but engaging. Beginning with 26 FALL 2018 | context | AIA Philadelphia

"AS ONE FOLLOWS THIS JOURNEY, THERE IS CAREFULLY CURATED DATA TO BACK-UP THE AUTHOR’S CLAIMS, AS WELL AS A CONSTANT, ALMOST REVERENTIAL, DEFERENCE TO THE TEACHINGS OF JANE JACOBS."

its coining in 1964 by Ruth Glass, the author illustrates its conceptual evolution: Phillip Clay’s stage model of gentrification (p. 34), the “production vs consumption” debate (p. 35), Neil Smith’s rent gap theory (p. 37), Richard Florida’s “creative class” (p. 79), America’s modern racial segregation (p. 107), the infamous “redlining” (p. 112), suburbanization and deurbanization (p. 155), and finally the current policies, politics, and economic pressures causing the housing crises of hyper-gentrified cities like SF and NYC (chapters 8-11). These academic theories could have remained inaccessible and inscrutable in a less capable journalist’s hands, but Moskowitz manages to pump blood through this exquisite corpse and demands sympathy if not empathy for those suffering the gut-wrenching impacts of displacement.

Where Moskowitz falls short, is after identifying symptoms of social inequity, there is no counterpunch with the same passion to a solution. Throughout the narrative, complexities of urban investment and divestment are alluded to with an emphasis on the mistakes of the past and current generations – this is undeniable. But, there are examples of positive agents for change trying to make a difference – if one looks. The scale and political will needed to adequately address the magnitude of the problems caused by gentrification is and continues to be inadequate. If one considers the narrative that would ensue – the passionate and combative narrative would be greatly diluted – lost in the complexities of what if’s, timelines, cost projections and the morass

of bureaucracy. The author sidesteps this challenge but succeeds in forcing one to reconsider their own personal choices.

Even though Moskowitz does not profile Philadelphia, it's easy to translate the relevance of the lessons learned in the case studies to Philadelphia, as our city addresses many of the same complicated issues.

After reading this book, one must decide how to move forward with this awareness and what to do about it. n Modesto Bigas-Valedon and Erin K. M. Roark are Senior Associates at Wallace Roberts and Todd (WRT).

Sophia Lee is a licensed architect at Bohlin Cywinski Jackson and an adjunct professor at Temple University in the Facilities Management program.

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EXPRESSION

PUBLIC ARCHITECTURE FOR PUBLIC GOOD

BY TYA WYNN In the US, public housing is generally limited to rental housing for low income households in developments or properties funded and managed federally. These properties are subject to federally regulated design restrictions focused on function, durability, and cost efficiency which has led to utilitarian formula and urban ubiquity. As the 2016 recipient of the Stewardson Keefe Lebrun Travel Award, I visited 8 countries to observe and compare their public housing sites- looking at the location and context to the rest of the city, facade design, and types of design firms used. I discovered that many other countries provide a greater diversity in design, locations, and tenure typologies. For many

countries, public or social housing, is a showcase of innovative designs and the showpiece of a new community or neighborhood, often focused on placemaking around the site with local amenities. There is less of a stigma associated with those who live there, even when they are below the poverty line, due to a higher incidence of middle class families also relying on public support for housing. There are also a diversity of management options, including long term leases that can pass down from one generation to the next, rent to own, co-ops, and public private partnerships.

VIENNA Sperrgasse 17, SIGS, 2004 View from courtyard, showcasing the addition in bright lime green and glass. The addition supported 17 public housing units creating affordability in a stable community where values had been rising.

PARIS 120 Social Housing, Arquitecnica, 2012 This migrant town has seen a major increase in immigrant settlement and faced a housing shortage. This was one of the first projects of major density constructed to accommodate 120 young households in a modular design. Design took first place in a design competition hosted by IVIMA, the government housing agency in Madrid.

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SPAIN Background: Mirador, MVRDV, 2005 Foreground: Celosia, MVRDV & Blanca Lleo, 2009 Both projects spurred development in a working class community that has since grown to become a major residential district. Were major commissions for MVRDV, launching their notoriety in Spain. Design tested the perforated block method allowing for light and air to move through building.

LAGOS PHOTOS: TYA WYNN

Ilupeju Housing Scheme, Lagos HOMS Initiative, 2014 In the largest city in Africa, this project was part of a government initiative for rapid housing. Units were sold to middle class families to preserve affordability in an area where land value was increasing.

Design focused on efficiency and managing density and managing all utility infrastructure onsite for cost controls.

SIGNAPORE Bedok, Housing Development Board (HDB), 1976 (estimated) Bedok is a public housing site with one of the highest approval ratings in its near 60 year history. It has its own retail strip, outdoor spaces, and train station- creating new identity for many of the low income families who inhabit that project. Homes are provided on a lottery basis with an affordable lease for up to 99 years.

MONTERREY Monterrey Housing, Elemental, 2010 Elemental designed an innovative and adaptable housing typology, a ride from the economic center, allowing families to expand their unit over time. Units were sold to income eligible families allowing for incremental completion economically. The design has been replicated in Chile.

Tya Wynn is the Director of Project Planning for Habitat for Humanity Philadelphia. She was the recipient of the 2016 Stewardson Keefe Lebrun Travel.

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DESIGN PROFILE FRANKFORD PAUSE PARK

HINGE COLLECTIVE PROJECT: Frankford Pause Park LOCATION: Philadelphia, PA CLIENT: Frankford Community Development Corporation PROJECT SIZE: 8,600 SF PROJECT TEAM: Hinge Collective (Architect, Concept Design, Construction Administration)

PHOTOS: CHRIS BAKER EVENS

Father and Son Construction (General Contractor)

Frankford Pause is the name of the part art environment, part pocket park, that serves as the premier outdoor event venue and community hub for the Frankford neighborhood of Philadelphia. Beginning as an idea for a pop-up event space by the Frankford Community Development Corporation (FCDC), the original concepts were generated by a design team Lead by Alexa Bosse and Ari Miller and organized by the Community Design Collaborative. The early drawings allowed the FCDC to successfully seek grants, including an ArtPlace America grant, for the construction of a permanent park.

The transition from a pop-up concept to a permanent park has allowed Hinge and FCDC to leverage the park as a phased tool for increased community involvement and ownership. Phase one of the park was constructed in the winter of 2017/2018 and will be well used over the course of the summer, packed with events and activities facilitated by the FCDC. Design of the final buildout of the park will take place following an in-depth post occupancy evaluation of phase 1 park and a robust community engagement program. n

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EQUAL JUSTICE CENTER

WRT

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DESIGN PROFILE

PROJECT: Equal Justice Center LOCATION: Philadelphia, PA CLIENT: Pennrose PHL, LLC with The Philadelphia Bar Foundation PROJECT SIZE: 180,000 SF PROJECT TEAM: Pennrose PHL (Owner) The Philadelphia Bar Foundation (Development Partner) WRT, LLC (Architect / Landscape Architect) Bohler Engineering (Civil Engineer) The Harman Group, Inc. (Structural Engineer) Bala Consulting Engineers (MEP&FP, IT, Security Engineer) Metropolitan Acoustics, LLC (Acoustical Consultant) The Façade Group (Building Enclosure Consultant)

RENDERINGS: WRT

BEAM (Lighting Consultant)

The Philadelphia Bar Foundation is working closely with its nonprofit partners, Philadelphia-based developer - Pennrose, and Philadelphiabased architects and landscape architects - WRT, to fully realize the vision of the Equal Justice Center (EJC). The first of its kind in the country –- will co-locate legal aid organizations and foster opportunities to strengthen their client services. The EJC will set a new national standard for inter-agency collaboration and operational efficiency for the provision of free legal services and is expected to house approximately 20 public legal aid service agencies. The Center is the cornerstone of a larger mixed-use redevelopment that integrates civic, residential, and public open space to transform and leverage a key urban site in the heart of the City of Chinatown.

With frontages on Race Street between 8th and 9th Streets, the 11 floor, 180,000 sf facility will be highly energy efficient, committed to achieving LEED Silver certification, and allow clients to commute to one centrally located building for legal aid services. The shared facility model will help the EJC and all participating organizations to reduce expenses, provide more efficient delivery of legal services, and maximize the resources they have with the potential to increase capacity to a wider range of clients. In total, the economic and social impact of this facility is expected to exceed $200 million per year, benefiting thousands of clients in the Philadelphia community.

The design process has actively involved the building’s tenants throughout the programming and design, through interviews and committee discussions, participating in community engagement efforts, and providing feedback for how the project can not only benefit this specific site, but also the local Chinatown neighborhood and City of Philadelphia as a whole. A series of interactive and engaging community meetings have afforded our design team the opportunity

to engage the community, better understand what contributes to the identity of the neighborhood, and explore opportunities to integrate, connect, and complement that identity through the design.

The comprehensive design of the entire site has been the result of a collaborative and integrated process between the design team, the developer, the various stakeholders involved in the project, and the local community. The Equal Justice Center is poised to stand as a symbol of the City of Philadelphia’s commitment to the promise of equality under law, and as an enduring structure that will continue to give back to the City and the Greater Philadelphia region by transforming access to justice through innovative design, collaboration, and social impact. n

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DESIGN PROFILE ESPERANZA CAMPUS

PZS ARCHITECTS Philadelphia, as well as 430 direct, indirect, and induced jobs, and $650,000 in tax revenue.

The neighborhood is steadily becoming a place residents are proud to call home and, slowly but surely, a destination for Philadelphians of all stripes to visit and embrace. Surveys collected between 2017 and 2018 from Hunting Park residents illustrate the impact of neighborhood improvements over time, with the percentage of neighbors who are at least somewhat satisfied with the community increasing from 77% in 2011 to 90% in 2018. 72% of residents surveyed would continue to live in this community if they had the choice, 21% more than in 2011.

Esperanza's ongoing legacy of successful placemaking and community revitalization can be used by others in Philadelphia and across the nation to raise up the most vulnerable among us and open doors to opportunity. n

PROJECT: Esperanza Campus LOCATION: Philadelphia, PA CLIENT: Esperanza PROJECT SIZE: 16,500 SF PROJECT TEAM: PZS Architects (Architect) Eustace (Civil Engineer) BHG Consulting (MEP Engineer) NORR (Structural Engineer) The Ruzika Company (Theater Consultant) Acentech (Acoustics Consultant)

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PHOTO: ZAMANI FEELINGS

Located in the Hunting Park neighborhood of North Philadelphia where the majority of the population is low-income and Hispanic, Esperanza serves as a beacon of opportunity and optimism.

The Esperanza campus as it is known today is the result of nearly two decades of confident belief in a vision for community transformation.

The building housing Esperanza's many programs and services is the site of a former envelope factory purchased by the organization in 1999. Since that time, 4261 N. 5th Street has undergone a series of transitions and become a hub of community and cultural activity for Hunting Park and beyond, providing middle, high school, and higher education, workforce development, housing and financial counseling, immigration legal services, neighborhood economic development, arts and cultural programming – and much more.

Since 2012, Esperanza has been bringing to life its robust Neighborhood Strategic Plan goals, recently securing a Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program (RACP) grant to support the next phase of its bold vision for its campus and Hunting Park. Esperanza has implemented a variety of initiatives to support neighborhood businesses, improve residential life, and invest in sustainable community resources. More than $350,000 in small business grants/loans have been disbursed to support the 5th Street Business Corridor, assisting in the reduction of vacancies along the corridor by half. $104,000 in NeighborCare Grants have been distributed to 2,000+ residents on 100+ unique blocks to beautify and increase safety and resident engagement throughout the neighborhood. In addition, seven community gardens have been created, over 20 business renovations are completed or underway, 600 new street trees have been planted over the last three years, 40 businesses have joined the Hunting Park Business Association, and 15 new Town Watch blocks have been established.

A broader view of Esperanza's efforts shows that the organization's operations generate $47 million in total impact for the City of

DESIGN PROFILE

PUENTES DE SALUD

BALLINGER PROJECT: Puentes de Salud LOCATION: Philadelphia, PA CLIENT: Puentes de Salud / Penn Medicine PROJECT SIZE: 7,000 SF PROJECT TEAM: Ballinger (Architect / Engineer / Interior Design)

PHOTO: ED WHEELER

LF Driscoll (Construction Manager)

Puentes de Salud (Bridges of Health) is a unique clinic that offers healthcare and educational programs for Philadelphia’s rapidly-growing Latino immigrant population. Founded by Dr. Steve Larson, associate professor of emergency medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, the clinic combines social services and preventative care with targeted medical practices and education.

Ballinger provided pro-bono architectural and engineering services to make a home for the doctors, nurses, and volunteers of Puentes de Salud. The 7,000 SF clinic on 17th and South Street features medical examination rooms, counseling spaces, and a community kitchen designed to educate the public on nutrition and healthy eating habits. It also has rooms for yoga and meditation classes, as well as a library stocked with children’s books.

Approximately 10,000 patients visit the center per year. In collaboration with Penn Medicine and Spanish-speaking volunteers, the doctors and nurses at Puentes are able to provide underrepresented populations with access to better healthcare through treatment, counseling, and referrals. The clinic’s innovative design allows the building to further function as a community center—offering specialized social services to ensure the ongoing health of visitors. n AIA Philadelphia | context | FALL 2018 35

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DESIGN PROFILE BARRY PLAYGROUND BUILDING

JIBE DESIGN + CLAFLEN ASSOCIATES ARCHITECTS PROJECT: Barry Playground Building LOCATION: Philadelphia, PA CLIENT: City of Philadelphia PROJECT SIZE: 2,700 SF PROJECT TEAM: PHOTO: G CLAFLEN

The Barry Playground Building renovation transformed a small bunker-like building into a high performance public amenity that now contributes significantly to neighborhood life. Located on a full city block including a pool, playground and field spaces in the heart of South Philadelphia’s Girard Park neighborhood, Barry Playground Building’s renewal has accomplished something that city project improvements seldom can, and that is not only to replace failing systems but to go beyond that. to create a day-lit, sustainable and spatially efficient building that is well-insulated, finished with non-toxic materials and served by an energy efficient geothermal mechanical system. The building and outdoor facilities are integrated with a full site storm water management system. It is the City’s first LEED GOLD certified recreation building setting the bar for future Project Rebuild v2_8 15 2018 Context Media Ad.pdf 1 8/15/2018 4:43:34 PM initiatives. n

Phase I Jibe Design (Architect) The Kachele Group (Structural Engineer) Alderson Engineering (MEP Engineer) Phase II Claflen Associate Architects + Planners (Architect) Hunting Engineering (Structural Engineer) Alderson Engineering (MEP Engineer) Re: Vision Architects (LEED Consultant)

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