CONTEXT - Summer 2016

SUMMER 2016

HEALTH AND ARCHITECTURE Cities vs. Humans Jan Gehl reflects.

Healthcare and Neighborhoods One hospital takes on the health of a neighborhood.

Children and Risk Is limiting a child’s risk making them bored?

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PHOTO: NICK FANCHER

Summer 2016 – IN THIS ISSUE We look at hospitals, playgrounds, community centers, and senior living projects with an eye on how public health is impacted by design.

FEATURES 14

Rediscovering the Neighborhood: Creating a healthy environment of Care at Nationwide Children’s Hospital Nationwide Children’s Hospital’s growth provides new amenities for the local community

DEPARTMENTS 7 EDITOR’S LETTER

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8 COMMUNITY

Risky Business: The Dangers of Playgrounds That Are Too Safe A look at how safer playgrounds with limited risk create an environment of boredom in children and impact their health in the process.

12 UP CLOSE 26 EXPRESSION 30 DESIGN PROFILES 38 INDEX TO ADVERTISERS

ON THE COVER ON THE COVER: John C. Anderson Apartments ARCHITECT: Wallace Roberts & Todd LLC PHOTO: Jeffrey Totaro

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Senior Living, LGBT Style John C. Anderson Apartments, the first affordable LGBT friendly senior living facility built in the Eastern United States, transforms Philadelphia’s Washington Square West neighborhood.

AIA Philadelphia | context | SUMMER 2016

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2016 BOARD OF DIRECTORS

CONTEXT EDITORIAL BOARD

Denise Thompson, AIA, President Frank Grauman, FAIA, President-Elect Troy Hannigan, Assoc. AIA, Treasurer James W. Rowe, AIA, Past President | Secretary Karen Blanchard, AIA, Chapter Director Kiki Bolender, AIA, Chapter Director Kira Broecker, AIA, Chapter Director Jeffrey Krieger, AIA, Chapter Director Brian Szymanik, AIA, Chapter Director Kelly Vresilovic, AIA, LEED AP, Chapter Director Alesa Rubendall, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, Chapter Director Catherine (Katie) Broh, AIA, LEED AP, Chapter Director Paul Avazier, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, NCARB, Chapter Director John B Campbell, AIA, ARIAS, RIBA, LEED AP, Chapter Director Jeff Pastva, AIA, AIA PA Director Robert C. Kelly, AIA, AIA PA Director Jared Edgar McKnight, Assoc. AIA, Associate Director Michael J. Fierle, Assoc. AIA, Associate Director Tya Winn, Public Member Rebecca Johnson, Executive Director

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

BOARD MEMBERS Wolfram Arendt, AIA, Bohlin Cywinski Jackson William W. Braham, Ph.D., FAIA, University of Pennsylvania David Brownlee, Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania Jon Coddington, AIA, Drexel University Susan Miller Davis, AIA Sally Harrison, AIA, Temple University Tim Kerner, AIA, Terra Studio Elizabeth Miller, Community Design Collaborative Stephen P. Mullin, Econsult Corporation Rashida Ng, RA, Temple University Jeff Pastva, AIA, JDavis Architects Richard Roark, ASLA, Olin Rachel Simmons Schade, AIA, Drexel University David Zaiser, AIA, WRA

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

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

Publisher Tom Schell, Group Publisher Jack Eller, Sales and Project Manager David Freeman, Editor Ann DeLage, Marketing Nancy Taylor, Book Leader Krys D’Antonio, Designer GK DS, Account Representatives Lou Brandow, Ralph Herzberg, Nicholas Manis, Phillip Maxwell, Chris Zabel, Brian Zeig The The opinions expressed in this – or the representations made by advertisers, including copyrights and warranties, are not those of the editorial staff, publisher, AIA Philadelphia, or AIA Philadelphia’s Board of Directors. All rights reserved. Reproduction in part or whole without written permission is strictly prohibited.

Postmaster: send change of address to AIA Philadelphia, 1218 Arch Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107.

Published JULY 2016/AIP-Q0216/3049

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SUMMER 2016 | context | AIA Philadelphia

EDITOR’S LETTER

BY RICHARD ROARK, RLA, ASLA, LEED ® AP BD+C

PHOTO: SAHAR COSTON-HARDY

Can we design our way out of the 21st Century Health Crisis?

On any given day I take my commute by train, from Mount Airy to Center City, quickly power walk into work, secure my morning dose of caffeination and plunge into my seat behind the wheel of my desktop to plow my way through the work week. It’s a very sedentary lifestyle, despite my daily commitment to walk up the stairs to our 11th floor offices. There are wistful moments when I am moving about town where I can take a step back and ponder what this assemblage of urbanity is all about and how it’s shaping us individually and as a community.

For this issue of Context we had the opportunity to engage with those who are re-examining the continuum of health in the built environment from planning to playground. And there’s no time to waste in Philadelphia’s most recent Health Impact Assessment, of the 11 largest metro areas Philadelphia County suffers from the highest rates of preventable diseases from obesity and diabetes to high blood pressure.

On top of that these diseases are taking the greatest toll on those with fewest resources in our community. All is not lost, Philadelphia has begun reversing these trends in recent years and I’m proud to say that there are a cadre of Philadelphia designers working to reverse these pervasive trends.

Healthy design is not limited to doctor offices, hospitals and nursing homes, it’s a much broader topic or at least it should be if we wish to create a better quality of life and foster social equity for the communities we serve. This issue examines health in the everyday world, it provides a contemporary snapshot of how our environment is shaping us and how health care providers are turning to designers for new insights into providing health care. How can we insure the children have safe places to play? How can our homes adapt as we age and change? Why did we lose our birds, bees and toads and am I next? I believe the challenges embedded in these questions are ones that Philadelphia’s design community can answer with a new generation of creative vitality. ■ Richard Roark is a partner at OLIN where he has worked on projects such as the new US Embassy in London and Dilworth Park in Philadelphia. In addition, he is an active volunteer with Community Design Collaborative.

AIA Philadelphia | context | SUMMER 2016

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COMMUNITY Dear Friends and Colleagues: Not only did we survive hosting the AIA National Convention this past May, we thrived.

As a chapter and a community, the energy and enthusiasm was palpable and I can still feel it as we transition from convention planning back to the regularly scheduled programming for Fall 2016. The Convention was a success and I am proud of all of the efforts of our leaders, volunteers, and staff who worked so hard to make everything happen practically seamlessly. On behalf of the board of AIA Philadelphia, thank you to everyone who volunteered, sponsored, hosted tours and events, and participated in anyway in the Convention.

This CONTEXT issue focuses on how design of the built environment can improve health outcomes for all of us. Almost two years ago, we formed the AIA Philadelphia Active Design and Healthy Communities Committee. In 2015, the Committee put together a program and tour for the Design on the Delaware conference. In addition, I participated, along with Committee Co-Chair Sara Ridenour, AIA from Ballinger, on a panel at the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission conference, Breaking Ground. At that conference I spoke about the research and efforts by AIA National and other AIA chapters around the country regarding design and health. Lastly, in partnership with the City of Philadelphia Health Department, Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission, and the Health Promotion Council, the Committee successfully hosted the first annual FitCity PHL conference with over 125 attendees.

This year FitCity2 PHL is an all day conference that will be held at the Center for Architecture and Design on Thursday, October 13, 2016 during the DesignPhiladelphia Festival. Fit City PHL is a full-day symposium designed to explore design strategies in our offices, parks, and communities that improve health by promoting physical activity and healthy eating. It will connect architects, planners, designers, landscape architects, developers, City officials, and public health professionals to learn about how the design of the environment where we live, work, and play can have a positive impact on the negative health trends our communities are currently facing – particularly obesity and other chronic conditions.

A stellar example here in Philadelphia of how healthcare, medical education, innovation, business, and designers come together to improve individuals’ lives, is MEDstudio@JEFF at Sidney Kimmel Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University. MEDstudio@JEFF is an anti-disciplinary agency focused on the design of health and human dignity. Rooted in over 25 years of research and practice in the medical sciences and design, MEDstudio@ JEFF was established in 2013 by Dr. Peter Lloyd Jones and Provost Mark Tykocinski to answer unmet needs in health and wellness.

Based in the Department of Emergency Medicine, MEDstudio’s mission is to identify tough problems within the existing healthcare system; and then to deliver appropriate low and/or high tech solutions to health care workers, patients, and the general public.

The program also acts as a catalyst for human-centered design activities at The Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University.

MEDStudio@JEFF has many brilliant daily programs during DesignPhiladelphia this year, including the opening of The Beacon, an interactive and experimental architectural structure answering to unmet needs in healthcare, including the re-design of systems and innovation activities, including those centered around the future Philadelphia Rail Park.

Designed by Jenny Sabin Studio, with landscape by Land Health Institute, and VR and atmosphere by Klip Collective, The Beacon runs from Thursday October 6-16, 2016 in the heart of Thomas Jefferson’s campus at Lubert Plaza.

I encourage all of you to attend FitCity2 PHL and MEDStudio@JEFF’s programming during DesignPhiladelphia this year - to see some of the unique and interesting developments and research in design and health.

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SUMMER 2016 | context | AIA Philadelphia

October 6-16, 2016

The theme for the 2016 DesignPhiladelphia Festival is HOME! It’s the places where we live and where we come from. But it’s also a feeling of comfort and something that is familiar.

Whether it’s an apartment; a house; our office; our favorite park; our City; or our World…the design of all of these places can help transform a place into that familiar, comforting feeling of home. In 2016, the DesignPhiladelphia festival will focus on events and programs that demonstrate how design can strengthen our connections to places, to ourselves, and to each other.

As its name implies, Philadelphia’s Design Advocacy Group (DAG) has been active in recent months on the advocacy front, on behalf of excellence in the city’s architecture and physical planning.

We have published and otherwise focused on two controversial development proposals at sensitive sites, one on the Delaware riverfront and the other at a gateway between Center City and South Philadelphia, and on the continuing issues surrounding the ambitious redevelopment of the Sharswood section of North Philadelphia.

Our monthly meetings at 8 a.m. on the first Thursday of each month at the Center for Architecture + Design provide a free, public, faceto-face forum on critical issues like these. All are welcome.

DAG wishes to express its appreciation to the beautifully renovated Center for providing us with a home for many years. And to Ballinger, which hosted us during the Center’s construction.

Learn more at designadvocacy.org or facebook/designadvocacy.

AIA CONVENTION 2016 BY THE NUMBERS

COFFEE Over 300 lbs of our exclusive Venturi Scott blend coffee was served at the Jacobs Coffee Bar throughout Convention for a total of approximately 6,000 cups of coffee served to attendees over a four day period.

PEOPLE Approximately 5,000 people/day visited the Center for coffee, happy hour, or just to relax. 4,444 people went on one of the 137 tours offered. A grand total of 371 people volunteered their time during Convention.

PARTY! An estimated 300 people attended the Shildan Opening Party. More than 2,500 pints of Yards beer were sold during the Loewen Happy Hour on Thursday and Friday evenings while the music of WorldTown SoundSystem literally had people dancing in the streets.

Our ever-popular Constructing Play: Classic Building Toys exhibition will return to the Center this November! This FREE exhibition celebrates 175+ years of the building toys that have taught generations of children and shaped the work of countless architects and designers. Redesigned to fill the Center’s new Exhibition Gallery, the exhibition is expanding to include more toys, more history, and more interactivity.

NEW THIS YEAR – the Center will also be offering a series of hands-on Family Workshops taught by architecture and design professionals on select Saturdays during Constructing Play. Read + Build activities will entertain young children through 2nd grade and more advanced Design + Construct workshops will engage children in grades 3-6. Tickets are required for workshops. All children must be accompanied by an adult.

MENTIONS AIA Philadelphia was all over the news and social media.

Twitter saw a total of 101,000 impressions on tweets through April and May, an increase of 237 followers, 473 mentions, and 4,279 profile visits. Engagement on Facebook was at an all-time high with our top post reaching 2,500 people. Fans increased by more than 100 with over nearly 100 posts shared. AIA Philadelphia also had nearly 30 stories on various blogs and media outlets helping to tell the story of AIA Convention 2016

PARKLETS Blessed with gorgeous weather for the St. Gobain Parklet Design Competition on Thursday and Friday, Arch Street was transformed into a block party of design. 15 teams competed with the Jury Prizes awarded to the Array Architects team and the collaborative group of At Media, Stokes Architecture, and Open Streets PHL. Stantec and Gensler were the recipients of the coveted People’s Choice awards

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COMMUNITY The Community Design Collaborative provides pro bono preliminary design services to nonprofit organizations in greater Philadelphia, creates engaging volunteer opportunities for design professionals, and raises awareness about the importance of design in revitalizing communities.

Without volunteers, there would be no Community Design Collaborative. Volunteers play an essential role in the Collaborative’s design outreach and leadership.

Here, a few of the hundreds of design professionals we match with nonprofits every year share what they bring to these partnerships—and what they gain.

“VOLUNTEERING WITH THE COLLABORATIVE HAS EXPOSED THE STAFF TO OUR OFFICE PHILOSOPHY IN A MORE PALPABLE WAY THAN JUST WORDS.” Richard Winston, AIA, bwa architecture + planning

“THE ABILITY TO LISTEN IS IMPORTANT IN WORKING WITH A DIVERSE COMMUNITY TRYING TO FIND THE BEST SOLUTION.” Nina Dudas, Architectural Designer, Re:Vision Architecture

“DESIGN IS AN EASY TOOL FOR GETTING FEEDBACK. IT’S A TOOL FOR PUSHING PROCESS FORWARD IN A POSITIVE WAY… AND NOT GETTING BOGGED DOWN IN CONSTRAINTS.” Zachary Cebenka, Landscape Architectural Designer, Viridian Landscape Studio 10 SUMMER 2016 | context | AIA Philadelphia

“THE COLLABORATIVE GIVES PEOPLE A PICTURE OF WHAT THEY CAN ACTUALLY DO.” Joanna Trago, Cost Estimator, Gardner/Fox Associates

COMMUNITY CHARTER HIGH SCHOOL FOR ARCHITECTURE + DESIGN

The Charter High School for Architecture and Design (CHAD) celebrated sixteen years of success as the National AIA convention returned to Philadelphia in May. CHAD students participated in a variety of AIA events including a new legacy project, a workshop on K-12 Design Education, a CHAD Parklette, and other events that coincided with the convention.

The new AIA/CHAD legacy venture had a large turnout of not only CHAD students, but design students from West Philadelphia High School and students from across the city who were involved with the ACE Mentoring program. Industry professionals, CHAD alumni and AIAS students from colleges across the county met with the high school students at CHAD in the morning for a discussion of design education, networking opportunities, and other activities. The group then visited the convention for a scavenger hunt and they ended the day with brief discussions with the AIA students and other volunteers.

CHAD students also recently competed in a lighting design project exhibited in our newly

converted Street Corner Gallery at 7th and Sansom. The results of the student design projects and the new space will be on display for several weeks and can be viewed from the street.

Representatives and volunteers from WIA (Women in Architecture) have been working with CHAD administration throughout the school year on a project called PATINA with the goal of providing a new mentoring program for female students interested in architecture.

PATINA is off to a great start having had two successful events this spring and even presenting one of two WIA scholarships to a PATINA participant.

As we wrap up another successful school year it is important to recognize that CHAD will again be sending our graduates off to numerous colleges across the country, many majoring in design fields. The support we receive from the Philadelphia’s construction, architecture and design community is integral to our success. The financial contributions we receive during our various events provide resources, and the volunteering and mentoring programs provide experiences that most Philadelphia high school students will never receive. For more information about CHAD please visit our website at www.CHADphila.org. ■Greg Wright is the CEO of the Charter High School for Architecture and Design. He has held several roles in education including teacher, principal, curriculum director, and superintendent.

AIA Philadelphia | context | SUMMER 2016

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A Man About the People

BY JOANN GRECO PHOTO: SANDRA HENNINGSSON

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SUMMER 2016 | context | AIA Philadelphia

UP CLOSE

As two young students in 1960s Denmark, Jan Gehl and his future wife, Ingrid Mundt, were buffeted by, and primed for, change. “There were rather lively debates all around us about flower power, the rise of the suburbs, student revolutions in Europe,” says Gehl, now 79-years-old.

“And then at home, I was met with more questions,” he continues in his formal, Scandanavian-inflected English. “Ingrid was studying psychology and wanted to know why architects like me didn’t spend a single day of their schooling to learn about people? Why was I all the time engrossed in plans and forms? Why did my professors go out at four in the morning to make sure there were no humans around to disturb the compositions of the photos they were taking for their courses?”

After Gehl graduated and the couple married, the discussions continued. “There were always architects and psychologists in our home and we came to understand that there was a big gap between social sciences and architecture,” he says. “That was the start for us to explore this borderland.” Mundt decided to specialize in environmental psychology and Gehl quickly moved from designing buildings to building a design movement.

Earlier this year, Gehl was awarded the Edmund N. Bacon prize from the Center for Architecture and Design, honoring his decades long influence in the field. His philosophical influence can be felt all throughout Philadelphia, from spaces like the Spruce Street Harbor Park to the citywide adoption of bike-sharing. More directly, the American offices of Gehl Architects recently designed and installed the popular 14 wooden swings at The Porch at 30th Street Station. The newly formed Gehl Institute, funded by a $1.6 million grant from the Knight Foundation, will likely continue infusing Philadelphia’s public spaces and policies with Gehl’s philosophy.

From his first book, Life Between Buildings (originally published in Denmark in 1971) to one of his most recent, 2010’s Cities for People, Gehl’s titles sum up his crusade. After graduating with a master’s degree in architecture from the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, he, Ingrid and their newborn moved to Italy, funded by a grant to observe how and why and how Italians used their infamous piazzas. Gehl’s work diverged from “studying form to studying life. Good architecture,” he says, “is about both, and the intersection between them. Architecture without interaction is just sculpture.”

Gehl spent the following 40 years “finding out about what they forgot to teach me at architecture school,” he says. As William H. Whyte would do in the ‘80s, he used careful observation and measurement to craft a science of good urbanism; like Jane Jacobs before him, he came to understand the humanism inherent in the best cities. His own distinct spin on improving the public realm, though, evolved from a central tenet: that putting a precedence on walking and cycling over the automobile all but ensured lively places.

‘Make the city inviting for people and not for cars’ became his clarion call. “More cars don’t give you more happiness,” he intones, as if he’s said it a thousand times—and will never get tired of saying it.

Nestled behind the walls of academia, Gehl published a bevy of books through the years while rarely taking on built-projects. Then, sometime in the ‘90s, “people started tugging at my sleeves, saying ‘you criticize but you don’t do. Can’t you please come to our city and help us?’” Thus Gehl 2.0 was born. “I started to work for a couple of cities, parallel to my academic work,” he recalls. “I had some young people helping me out, and we all worked around the kitchen table in my house.” (In 2000, he established Gehl Architects in Copenhagen, in 2014, Gehl Studios opened in San Francisco and New York.) The work took him and his teams from the capitals of Scandanavia to the biggest cities in Australia and New Zealand and later to Moscow. Most famously, the Bloomberg Administration brought Gehl to New York City in 2007, where the firm’s work along Broadway sought not to enliven, but to tame chaotic public spaces by removing traffic lanes and creating mini-oasis of calm (initially via plastic beach chairs and painted “lawns”).

Basically, Gehl became the grandpop of pop-up.

What was novel then has now become routine—and that makes Gehl very happy. “There’s so much good practice now,” he says. “All over the world you can fine excellent things being done. The European cities were far ahead in many of these ideas, like traffic calming, road diets, and complete streets. But in the last decade, America and other places have woken up.”

This time around, he adds, pedestrianization will work, unlike the first failed experiments in cities like Philadelphia and Buffalo. “Back in the ‘70s, they made a few blocks car free and turned them into sort of an outdoor shopping center,” he says. “Today, the factors behind the movement are different. There’s the need to make cities more sustainable—and walking and biking and public transit are of course much better for that. Plus, now we see organizations like the World Health Organization calling for cities to be mindful of healthy urban planning by encouraging people to walk and bike in the course of their daily doings.

The idea is to make Houston more like Venice.”

The much touted futurist vision of a city made convenient by fleets of driverless vehicles, then, not surprisingly leaves him cold. “They don’t change anything a bit,” he says. “We have a sitting epidemic. The problem is still sitting. And the other problem is that there’s no room for endless numbers of cars. It’s not a very smart technology for a city.

That millions of people need to have four rubber wheels to secure their mobility is complete nonsense.”

As for his own future, Gehl says, “I only know pretty much what I am going to be doing for the rest of this year and next year. The best thing in my career so far has been to make the books, they have spread the word all over the world, in 35 languages. There is an enormous need to make cities more people-friendly—including in places like Oman, Jordan and Moscow, where we’ve helped them make really breathtaking strides.

That is why my humble writings have gone so far.” ■ JoAnn Greco is a freelance writer and frequent contributor for PlanPhilly, the Philadelphia Inquirer, and Philadelphia Daily News.

AIA Philadelphia | context | SUMMER 2016

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REDISCOVERING THE NEIGHBORHOOD: Creating A Healthy Environment Of Care At Nationwide Children’s Hospital

BY RICHARD ROARK, RLA, ASLA, LEED® AP BD+C

14 SUMMER 2016 | context | AIA Philadelphia

PHOTO: NICK FANCHER

Nationwide Children’s Hospital, situated in Columbus, Ohio is one of the Nation’s premier pediatric institutions. Over its century plus history, the development of the hospital has had an evolving relationship between the care environment for the patient and the physical footprint of a major institution within the urban fabric of Columbus. This history of evolving care mirrors trend lines in our design culture stretching back as far as the City Beautiful Movement to a post War era which focused on the hospital program as a precise and sterile instrument of care. In recent years the hospital has transformed yet again into an institution that embraces the local neighborhood and reintegrates the soothing and restorative effects of landscape for the benefit of patients, their families, staff and the surrounding community.

Nationwide Children’s Hospital initially began with just nine beds in 1894. The hospital’s mission was to provide care for children whose families lacked resources to afford medical treatment.1 The same mission continues today and has been augmented by dedicated research facilities, long term quality of life commitments that extend to the hospital’s staff, and the Ohio communities the institution serves. The first Children’s Hospital, known as the Elks Pavilion, however stands in stark contrast to the contemporary medical institution. It was a three story gabled gothic building which bore a closer resemblance to a large mansion than a medical care facility and was located adjacent to Columbus’s most significant green, Franklin Park. According to the first Board of Trustees report the site of the hospital was chosen because of its fresh air and open space and close access to the trolley line.2 By the early 1920’s Children’s Hospital success and need to expand care services had caused it to outgrow the Elks Pavilion and a new property was identified on the South Side of Columbus beside today’s Livingston Park. The new facility was much greater in size with 75 beds, which would soon double to 150.3 Similar to the Elks Pavilion’s connection to open space, the new hospital campus

PHOTO: SAHAR COSTON-HARDY

maintained a strong connection to the landscape with two solariums, an outdoor play area and a park setting.4 During the urban renewal era, attitudes toward downtown neighborhoods and open space profoundly shifted. Open space no longer had a participatory role in the healing environment, its primary purpose was directed towards infrastructure for roadways and parking. The neighborhood surrounding the Children’s Hospital also declined over this period with the advent of suburban developments. Over the following decades the importance of these original Columbus neighborhoods would be rediscovered with a number of preservation initiatives.5 The importance of the Hospital’s role as a neighborhood steward came to the fore in 2001 with the creation of the Good Neighbor Agreement6,7 and the hospital became a major investor in open space with the development of a Master Facilities Plan beginning in 2006.

The need for a major campus expansion was driven by both capacity issues and the age of patient bed facilities which were constructed between the early 60’s and mid 70’s.8 Over the next six years, the plan would focus on building a new patient care hospital, developing a research campus, improving arrival, and circulation for patients and staff. This new phase of development would become the largest expansion of a pediatric facility in the United States.9 Over a period of 50 years, the neighborhood had undergone significant automotive-driven urbanization and had lost much of its pedestrian scale. Parsons and Livingston Avenues which had once been vital neighborhood hubs had lost their street frontage and sidewalk retail and the existing neighborhood housing had been on the decline from years of benign neglect. At the same time, Nationwide Children’s Hospital had undergone a rapid growth rate and the board leadership of the hospital recognized it was a critical time to develop a planning framework to optimize a quality healthcare environment and to reinvest in the neighborhood.

The work required the combined expertise of the the landscape architecture team of OLIN and MKSK, project architects FKP, EMH&T civil Engineers and Trans Associates traffic engineers. Planning studies began with an assessment of the neighborhood which had been significantly transformed from its original trolley village identity during the era of urban renewal. The interchanges of highway 70 and 71 created a significant barrier in the continuity of the urban fabric between the neighborhood and downtown Columbus.10 An urban framework plan was developed to return a pedestrian scale and structure to Livingston and Parsons Avenues. Key elements of the framework plan included the siting of the new acute care hospital, optimization of building-to-building connections, plans for future expansion, and expansion of open space. The civic nature of this endeavor was underscored by the fact that the hospital sits at the gateway to the historic Near South Side neighborhood.11 To achieve the vision and project goals the building program was reoriented to address Livingston Avenue, a research campus was developed on the West Side of Parsons and circulation and parking were improved through a combination of strategically placed parking AIA Philadelphia | context | SUMMER 2016

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PHOTO: SAHAR COSTON-HARDY

on the community…how we connect to the community,[and] the idea with our green space [was] that not only it became inviting to our patients but also for the community. A place where they come together.”12 The redeveloped healthcare campus now includes an outdoor dining café, a dedicated children’s play garden located within the interior of the hospital, and a sweeping lawn with three gardens connected by meandering tree-shaded paths and serpentine mounds recalling the legacy of Native American settlements in the Ohio region. The gardens from east to west are a series of small

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SUMMER 2016 | context | AIA Philadelphia

PHOTO: NICK FANCHER

structures, new lot locations set back from the street and offsite shuttled parking. This enabled the Hospital to remove parking lots from the frontage of the primary open space of the neighborhood, Livingston Park as well as to create a new children’s park across the whole of Livingston Avenue, effectively doubling green space fronting the institution and extending open space to the neighborhood.

The open space fronting the new acute care patient tower was developed into a series of playful children’s gardens meant to serve as places of respite for patients, nervous parents, and stir-crazy siblings as well as the health care-givers of the hospital and the Near South Side neighborhood at large. Special care was taken to develop relationships between exterior and interior spaces in order to develop a sense of continuity within the complex realm of health care and to provide an enhanced visual connection to vibrant natural materials and flora. The proposed open space complements the existing historic Livingston Park and is designed to connect the hospital with the neighborhood. As one hospital official described in an interview further development of the hospital had to be achieved with a sense of combined purpose between the hospital and the community: “We knew that we are one with the neighborhood…we thought about the impact it was going to have

PHOTO: CHRIS WHITIS SITEPHOCUS LLC

garden spaces, respectively identified as the Moonlight Garden, The Storyteller’s Garden and the Fragrance Maze.

The campus is designed to be as much a healing environment as it is a healing institution where social and environmental stewardship will be fostered though Nationwide’s Children’s Hospital’s mission of care. The Storyteller’s Garden is characterized by a series of undulating benches and serpent mounds that frame intimate spaces for small gatherings underneath a bosque of trees. The garden frames the entry to the new hospital building and is bisected by a path that leads out to Livingston Avenue. A low wall to the north separates the garden from Children’s Drive, and is framed with slate on the South side providing a hundred foot-long child-height chalkboard. To the west, the Fragrance Maze is composed of a series of low hedge box woods with colorful jewel box planters that illuminate at night, and are filled with sweet smelling herbaceous plants, such as lemon balm, lavender and mint, creating a delightful and playful sensory environment for the entertainment of children. To the North of the Fragrance Maze is an outdoor dining courtyard that integrates directly with the hospital cafeteria. The courtyard is a sunken terrace of bluestone framed by custom cast concrete walls patterned with grooves which abstractly resemble the sedimentary layers of the local Hocking Hills geology.

Over the decades, innovative healthcare institutions have reappraised the value of their open spaces and their role in the community fabric. At the dawn of the 20th century many of the important benefits that a healing institution sought to offer were the comforts and amenities of fresh air, sunlight and a natural environment. Those aspects were lost during the development of modern, antiseptic medicine, whose benefits are unquestionable. Nationwide Children’s Hospital is a microcosm of these multidecade transitions in medical treatment.

The ability of such a large institution in an

existing context to reclaim the benefit of open spaces offers an innovative model for incorporating psychological and equitable concerns into the continuum of care. By improving the hospitality of medical care institutions, the environmental impact is not just transferred to the psyche of the patients but to workers, family, and visitors.

These factors are critical to attracting and retaining the most skilled professionals, creating space to encourage fitness and other preventative health care benefits, and to maintaining positive community relationships enabling institutions to grow gracefully in their communities. ■

– Doug Motz http://www. columbusunderground.com/history-lessonthe-growth-of-nationwide-childrens-hospital 3

Family and Volunteer Services Volunteer Handbook, Nationwide Children’s Hospital, 3/2013

4

Doug Motz http://www. columbusunderground.com/history-lessonthe-growth-of-nationwide-childrens-hospital

5

Ed Lentz, Columbus: The Story of a City (Charleston, SC, Arcadia Publishing, 2003) 126-129

6

Good Neighbor Agreement, Nationwide Children’s Hospital, http:// www.nationwidechildrens.org/ good-neighbor-agreement

Richard is a partner at OLIN where he has worked

7

Mark Ferenchik, The Columbus Dispatch,

on projects such as the new US Embassy in London

Chilren’s Hospital a busy landlord, http://

and Dilworth Park in Philadelphia. In addition, he

www.dispatch.com/content/stories/

is an active volunteer with Community Design

local/2009/09/21/CHILDRENSHOUSES.ART_

Collaborative.

ART_09-21-09_B1_PKF4U6D.html 8

Endnotes 1

steve-allen-md-ceo 2

com/watch?v=aEM7O5mZttk

Nationwide Children’s Hospital Leadership, http://www.nationwidechildrens.org/ “

In the first annual report of the new

Children’s Hospital, board of trustees President Colonel James Kilbourne remarked that the site was chosen for the healthy fresh air and open space. Additionally, it was “away from the heart of the city, but with easy access on the Oak Street trolley line.”

Nationwide Children’s Hospital CEO Steve Allen, MD, Interview, https://www.youtube.

9

Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Master Facilities Plan, http://www. nationwidechildrens.org/master-facilities-plan

10 Columbus Children’s Hospital: Framework Plan and Park Concept, 2006 11 Columbus Children’s Hospital: Framework Plan and Park Concept, 2006, page 22 12 https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=GvynfIPY11I

AIA Philadelphia | context | SUMMER 2016

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BY MEGHAN TALAROWSKI “LIFE IS EITHER A DARING ADVENTURE OR NOTHING AT ALL.” – HELEN KELLER If you have visited a playground built in the United States in last 20 years, you might have noticed a pattern: cushy rubber surfacing, colorful structures, and surrounded with fence. The playgrounds look great (if they have been maintained), they probably cost a lot and the community pats itself on the back for having built something safe for their children. The problem is that in the pursuit of safety, we have actually allowed something far more sinister to take its place: boredom.

Boredom is not in and of itself a bad thing. Most adults can wax nostalgic about the days they were pushed out of the house to “go play” and out of boredom they explored, rode bikes, built forts and invented games with their friends. But the boredom that children are experiencing in today’s playgrounds is something new. If you look around a playground now, you rarely see a child above the age of 7 or 8. They are yielding to the siren call of video games and TV because playgrounds have become so sanitized, so safe, that they have lost the intrinsic quality that children seek out in play – a healthy dose of risk.

Our society has become obsessed with keeping children safe and reducing risk. Parenting today has become a constant battle against a variety of evils (SIDS, kidnappers, processed foods) and to the untrained eye these playgrounds are a panacea. Children 18

SUMMER 2016 | context | AIA Philadelphia

PHOTO: MEGHAN TALAROWSKI

RISKY BUSINESS: THE DANGERS OF PLAYGROUNDS THAT ARE TOO SAFE

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PHOTO: MEGHAN TALAROWSKI

are contained. There are no sharp objects, needles, or other dangers lurking in the shadows. The ground will soften any fall.

The structure is entertaining enough to give parents a few minutes peace to check their phones. All is right in the world.

Except that its not. Life is risky. Life hurts.

Play is how children learn about life. When they are buckled into a car and driven from safe playground to safe playground, these learning opportunities are stripped from them. Not only that, but their health is impacted as well. At the same time that playgrounds and children’s environments have grown ever safer, levels of childhood obesity have risen ever higher. In Philadelphia, 40% of our city’s children are overweight and one in five are obese, which in turn has become a leading cause of adult morbidity. We have to ask ourselves if keeping our children safe is actually causing them more harm than good.

Recently, I spent 6 months in London studying playgrounds, collecting data on user demographics, behavior and physical activity. When I returned to United States, I worked with the RAND Corporation and

PHOTO: MEGHAN TALAROWSKI

compared the London data with their National Study of Neighborhood Parks. We found that the riskier playgrounds in London had 55% more visitors, and kids and teens were 16-18% more physically active than their United States counterparts.

Codes that regulate playgrounds in England are far different than the ones that dictate their design in the United States. But more than that is the societal acceptance of risky behaviors in play. Rather than bubble wrap their playgrounds, the English have embraced risk, going so far as to create spaces known as ‘adventure playgrounds’. Essentially empty lots full of discarded materials and tools, these spaces are managed by play workers, whose role is to encourage but not interfere, as children create forts, build fires, dig pits and push their own boundaries through play that is as risky as they want to make it.

The adventure play model is unique and has been adopted in only a few sites across

the United States. While open to all ages, it is generally geared towards 6-13 year olds, when kids begin to age out of standardized play equipment and begin to seek out more adventure and risk. These sites offer excellent opportunities for development and fun, but there are other ways to infuse these same types of behaviors into traditional playgrounds.

Risk is very often about perception. A new experience is frightening until it is mastered, and once conquered, can become thrilling.

Playgrounds have the capacity to offer this sense of mastery, designed with the illusion of danger, while still remaining completely safe. A good example of this is Tumbling Bay Playground at Queen Elizabeth Park in London. Built from reclaimed timber and netting into a series of huge towers, crawl tunnels and elevated perches, it gives a thrill to people of all ages. Another example is Princess Diana Memorial Playground at Hyde Park in London, inspired by Peter Pan and centered around a massive wooden pirate

ship that encourages climbing to incredible heights and leaping from the deck into the surrounding sand.

What is fascinating is that while these playgrounds seem dangerous, they have an incredibly low injury rate. Princess Diana Memorial Playground receives up to a million visitors per year, and yet has only a handful of injuries that require more than a first aid kit. The same can be said for adventure playgrounds. Despite having tools, construction materials and debris strewn about, children are rarely injured.

The reason behind this lack of injury is that children understand risk. In environments that are new and seemingly dangerous, children modulate their behavior accordingly, assessing each step and movement in a way that they do not in places that appear safe. Not only are they actually safer in the environments that seem more dangerous, children find them more attractive, as these spaces give a sense of accomplishment and mastery that the simple structures and rubber surfacing of United States playgrounds do not.

Children spend the majority of their time in school, in child care, and in playgrounds.

The design of these spaces has a direct impact on not only their physical health, but their mental health as well. The way we design these environments conveys a message to children about how much we trust them to develop their own sense of self. As we look to the future of playgrounds in the United States, do we want to continue the trend of dumbed down, too safe play or are we willing to infuse a little danger and risk into our playgrounds, in order to give our children opportunities to grow? â– Meghan Talarowski is the founder and director of Studio Ludo, whose mission is building better play through research, design and advocacy. She has degrees in architecture and landscape architecture, over a decade of experience in the design field and is a certified playground safety inspector.

She is currently researching how perceptions of risk impact the design of play environments in the United States and abroad. She has presented her research at conferences held by The Association for the Study of Play and the US Play Coalition. She was a winner in the international design competition, PlaySpace. She also has two children under the age of 3 and a husband who assesses risk for a living.

Their pillow talk is fascinating.

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SENIOR LIVING, LGBT STYLE AUTHOR: JOSEPH SALERNO, AIA, LEED AP In many ways, the John C Anderson Apartments (JCAA) is simply a typical affordable seniors housing project – one of dozens constructed each year in Pennsylvania with the support of Low Income Housing Tax Credits issued by the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency (PHFA). Its units are efficiently designed to reflect PHFA minimum standards and its indoor commons and support facilities are also limited in number and size to reflect those standards.

However, as one approaches the building’s 13th Street entrance and proceeds into its welcoming lobby, it becomes increasingly clear that this is not a typical seniors building. Whether it’s the facility’s layered and playful front façade, the collection of hand-me-down books that populate the shelving in JCAA’s community living room, the views out to residents tending the gardens that dot its spacious courtyard, or the improvements individuals choose to make to personalize their apartments, one quickly realizes that this is an intentional community – one that has quickly blossomed to take on its own unique culture.

The unusually strong sense of pride and stewardship that residents show in this facility is at least in part attributable to the fact that JCAA is the first affordable senior housing project to be built in the Eastern United States as “an LGBT-Friendly Community”. It results from long and tireless efforts by leaders within Philadelphia’s gay community to establish the importance of developing such a housing option and then to help secure the political support and funding

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necessary for its implementation. The completed project reflects the continued input of those leaders throughout the entire design and construction process.

For WRT - the project’s architect - many aspects of the JCAA assignment were quite familiar ones. A significant part of the firm’s multi-disciplinary architecture, landscape architecture and planning practice has always been focused on community development and has often included the design of affordable as well as market-rate and specialized-care housing for older persons. However, the JCAA project also brought with it intriguing new challenges and opportunities that the firm was eager to take on. Many of these revolved around the non-traditional family structures, the affinities towards urban living, diversity and cultural awareness, and the progressive views about active aging and inter-generational inclusion that weave their way through much of LGBT life.

Developing a design that reflected and supported this distinctive culture was strongly advocated for by the group that had first envisioned the project (Philadelphia’s dmh Fund), supported by its for-profit developer (Philadelphia’s Pennrose Properties) and embraced during sessions with representatives of the broader surrounding neighborhood (the Washington Square West Civic Association). The completed project reflects the collaborative input of these various stakeholders and demonstrates the value of this engaged approach in creating a truly healthy and sustainable living environment as well as in strengthening the neighborhood it exists in.

GRAPHIC: WRT

The Need & Vision Behind the Project The project results from an appreciation within the local LGBT community of the great sacrifices made by the current generation of its elders in the struggle for equal rights, and an understanding of the limited financial resources and other supporting structures many have available to them as they continue to age. It recognizes that especially for this generation, the decision to be “out” often resulted in job or housing discrimination and sometimes in distancing from biological families. Additionally, the option to create one’s own family, to raise children, and to look to them as care-givers during one’s later years has generally not been an easily available one. Even as society’s attitudes have evolved towards greater tolerance, many continue to find it difficult to lead fully open, unapologetic lives.

The John Anderson project was envisioned in response to these challenges and with the understanding that in order to regard one’s home as a comfortable and safe sanctuary, it needs to be surrounded by a genuinely tolerant and supportive community. JCAA strives to provide that supportive environment. The facility welcomes into its community lower-income seniors of all races, genders, and sexual orientations, asking only that they display a commitment to diversity and a respect for each other.

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GRAPHIC: WRT

The Site & Program JCAA is located along the western edge of Philadelphia’s historic Washington Square West neighborhood. This area - often referred to as “the Gayborhood” - is the traditional center of LGBT life in the Philadelphia region. The specific site was chosen in part because of its close proximity to convenience shopping, as well as cultural, religious and supportive service facilities, including the William Way LGBT Community Center, which is less than one block away.

The site had previously served as a maintenance facility and equipment yard for the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority (PRA). Its 100’ frontage along 13th Street created a “dead zone” that along with some other neighboring uses, imparted a somewhat gritty character to the block. With that in mind, one of the prime goals for redevelopment became to make the entire area more welcoming by filling in the gap in the streetscape and by including active ground floor uses that could potentially spill out to the sidewalk in the form of cafes or other seating areas.

Partly in response to this objective, the developer’s initial 60-apartment target program was eventually shaved back slightly to 56 apartments. The modified program allowed portions of the ground 24

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floor to be set back so as to create a wider and more usable sidewalk area. It also allowed the building’s overall massing to be more responsive to the different scale of existing structures on 13th Street and Camac Street, and created an opportunity to develop a modestly sized roof terrace to augment the facility’s large ground-level courtyard.

Massing and Sections The development fronts on 13th Street where it is surrounded by older mixeduse structures ranging from 4-14 stories in height. It also extends back to Camac Street, one of Philadelphia’s narrowest and most charming “little streets” where cobblestone paving and 2-4 story historic structures still prevail. Sides of the parcel are bounded by a neighbor’s party wall and a narrow service alley.

Anderson’s plan configuration and building massing were largely driven by these neighboring conditions. The structure steps down from 6 stories to 4 stories as it approaches the smaller scale of Camac Street. The wing that runs along the service alley is arranged in a single-loaded configuration so as to minimize the impact of nuisances emanating from that alley and a high-rise structure only 6’ away. This approach allows for the creation of the

project’s large sun-filled courtyard space. It also insures that all residents enjoy either a street or central courtyard view. A roof terrace above the 4-story section of the building provides an easily accessed additional outdoor amenity for residents.

Goals for Neighborhood Integration WRT and JCAA’s sponsors were eager to minimize the sense of generational segregation that is often sensed within senior housing developments by creating a building that feels welcoming to passers-by and is fully engaged with the broader surrounding neighborhood. At the same time, the need to provide a safe and secure environment as residents “age in place” was very well understood.

To encourage this neighborhood integration, the original concept clustered resident common facilities along a groundfloor interior circulation spine that could be accessed at each end from entries on both 13th & Camac Streets. While the secondary (Camac Street) entry was eventually eliminated for control purposes, the goal of organizing spaces on the main level of the building so that they could be shared with the broader community on a limited basis remained. The resulting design for that main level includes a

PHOTO: JEFFREY TOTARO

1,000 square foot multi-purpose room, informal lounge spaces, a living room with a dedicated alcove for a growing LGBT-oriented library, and other support services, all organized around a large internal courtyard that’s become the focal point and major hub of activity for the community. The courtyard includes a variety of passive recreational spaces as well as areas for bicycle parking, grilling, community gardening, and other active uses. Pedestrians walking past the development’s main entrance are given a glimpse of this rare urban oasis, and the building’s management has on numerous occasions made the space available for special neighborhood-wide events. A second, more sheltered outdoor space is provided at the 5th floor of the building.

This east-facing roof terrace has quickly become the meeting spot for a growing “sunrise yoga” group.

GRAPHIC: WRT

Elevations Building on the dynamic character of 13th Street, the 6-story front façade is conceived as a series of layers. A brick façade with raised-seam metal cladding above forms a backdrop that connects the building with the traditional fabric of this Philadelphia street. In contrast, a floating plane of boldly-colored cement board projects forward from this backdrop, punctuated by a large-scale opening to announce the building’s entrance. This floating panel serves to reduce the perceived mass of the building and mediate between the differing scales and color palettes of neighboring structures. It also creates an interstitial zone behind it where most of the building’s through-wall louvers and other mechanical penetrations are tucked away out of sight.

pre-heat supply water entering the building’s central domestic hot water heaters, thereby substantially reducing energy costs. The project also utilizes a large area of vegetated roofing and an underground storm water detention system to together reduce discharge into the City’s sewer system by more than 20% over the site’s previous development. These features, combined with the careful specification of other elements throughout the project, allowed the completed project to achieve Energy Star Certification under its Multi-Family High Rise program.

Postscript WRT’s work on the John C Anderson Apartments project was recognized by The American Institute of Architects in 2015 when it selected that project to receive one of the only six Multi-Family Housing Awards it conferred nationwide that year. That award program was established “to emphasize the importance of good housing as a necessity of life, a sanctuary for the human spirit, and a valuable national resource”.

The project- and in particular the stories of some of its first generation of residents - is also featured as part of “The Pursuit ……50 years in the fight for LGBT rights”, a new WHYY-produced documentary which premiered June, 2016. Those personal stories provide compelling insights into the importance of supportive communities and the significance of the contributions we as architects can make in helping to spawn and nurture those communities. ■ Joe Salerno is a Senior Associate at WRT’s Philadelphia office. He served as project manager for the John C. Anderson Apartments project.

While at WRT, Joe has also been responsible for several other senior living projects as well as much of the firm’s work on K-12 educational facilites.

Building Envelope & Sustainable Features Exterior walls were designed to function as continuously insulated high performance rain screens while still adhering to strict budgetary constraints. This was achieved in part by limiting the palette of exterior finish materials to modest-cost ones such as fiber cement panels, and then relying on changes in color, pattern and edge detailing to add variation and richness to the facades.

In the design of the building’s MEP systems, an array of solar panels, located on the structure’s main roof, is used to AIA Philadelphia | context | SUMMER 2016 25

The Healthy Rowhouse Project The Philadelphia Story of Health and Architecture

BY KIKI BOLENDER, AIA

In December 2015, a group of health care professionals at the Jefferson Population Health Forum pondered the question, “What if we could write a prescription for better conditions in the home?” For architects, the question could be turned around to ask, “What can we contribute as part of the health care team?”

Those health care professionals were being introduced to the Healthy Rowhouse Project, created to help Philadelphia’s poorest residents - to keep them in their homes, to keep them from becoming homeless or displaced or sick, and to revive Philadelphia’s struggling neighborhoods - one house at a time. The project began as an initiative of the Design Advocacy Group and is now housed at the Center for Architecture and Design.

Over the next three years, the project will create financial instruments 26 SUMMER 2016 | context | AIA Philadelphia

EXPRESSION

and service delivery methods to help low income homeowners, and landlords who rent to low income tenants, to repair their buildings. At the end of that time, the goal is to see 5,000 homes repaired every year.

Jill Roberts has led the project since March, supported by May 8 Consulting, Capital Access, Reinvestment Fund and Bolender Architects.

She spent over a decade as a Community Development Project Manager for Project HOME, learning about multiple aspects of affordable housing, the effects of disinvestment in neighborhoods, and the challenges members of such communities face. In that role, Jill managed three phases of home ownership from acquiring vacant and blighted buildings from the city, to applying for funding and managing the design and construction teams, through to selling the homes. Now Jill heads up a program with the goal of keeping renters and homeowners in those communities healthy and secure in their homes.

The Healthy Rowhouse Project team is looking at a mix of programs with grants for those who have no way to repair their homes, and zero to very low interest loans for those who have equity in their homes.

Those new financial mechanisms and service delivery models will help existing non-profits like Habitat for Humanity Philadelphia, Rebuilding Together Philadelphia and Community Development corporations that wish to expand their work. Some of the burden would be removed from existing City Programs, like the Basic Systems Repair Program (BSRP), that are now overwhelmed with applications.

Affordable, quality housing is a powerful health intervention. In a recent St. Christopher’s Hospital pilot program, repairing homes correlated with a 70% drop in asthma hospitalizations within 6 months.

In Los Angeles, 100% of tenants who participated in programs to improve housing conditions reported improvements in their health.

These are basic repairs - roof repair, mold removal, storm windows, fixing the furnace, and making people healthier - adults more able to hold down a job, young children more ready for school, whole neighborhoods where people have a better chance to be healthy and successful.

Housing as a Social Determinant of Health The connection between housing conditions and public health is in the news every day, from all around the world. Other cities in this country, like Des Moines, have pilots underway. Boston and Los Angeles are doing much better than we are in enforcing rental housing quality standards.

THERE IS A GROWING RECOGNITION AMONG HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONALS THAT IN ORDER TO ACHIEVE THE “TRIPLE AIM” OF IMPROVING POPULATION HEALTH, IMPROVING HEALTH CARE DELIVERY AND REDUCING COSTS, WE MUST ENSURE THAT PATIENTS HAVE WARM, DRY, SAFE HOMES TO RETURN TO. In the United Kingdom, Scotland is coming on strong, making housing quality and access a part of policy in public health, employment, education and wealth inequity. Steve Lopez wrote in the LA Times last year about a woman living in a garden shed. In Los Angeles 44,000 people are living in tents and cardboard boxes. Wouldn’t the mayor of that city love to have our houses?

No city in this country has the existing housing stock we have - a resource that could really make that connection between health and housing policy possible at scale. Over 60% of single family homes in Philadelphia are rowhouses. Financial mechanisms and service delivery models developed as part of this project could be used for many building types in the future. We chose to concentrate initial efforts on the Philadelphia rowhouse for reasons of civic pride, economy of construction and most importantly, because that is the prevalent type of house in the neighborhoods where the buildings are suffering from the most deterioration. It is an inherently economical and energy efficient building type, with all the potential physical and mental health benefits that come from density - walkable neighborhoods for an active lifestyle, access to parks, recreation and transportation, and social interaction. A single home is literally connected to its neighbors.

New Funding Sources from the Health Care Sector There is a growing recognition among health care professionals that in order to achieve the “triple aim” of improving population health, improving health care delivery and reducing costs, we must ensure that patients have warm, dry, safe homes to return to. According to Karen Black of May 8 Consulting, “Hospitals and health insurers are interested in partnering to address the root causes and triggers for chronic diseases AIA Philadelphia | context | SUMMER 2016

27

in the home, because under the Affordable Care Act, health care providers are less likely to be paid for readmissions for the same condition.”

In an exciting example of Pay for Success, Johns Hopkins Medicaid Managed Care Organization is paying to repair 1,800 homes and recover costs through decreased emergency room visits and hospitalizations for asthma.

Portland Oregon seeks to save billions by using Medicaid waivers to pay for housing interventions.

Boston’s Breathe Easy at Home Program refers patients with asthma for housing inspections and repairs.

The Health of the Neighborhood While the internals of this project are very domestic - one family or individual, inside one house - these repairs would have wide ranging external economic and social consequences beyond the health benefits mentioned above, and some have the potential to tap into new funding streams.

GENTRIFICATION / WEALTH INEQUALITY / WEALTH CREATION: Allow people to stay in the home they have had for generations, OR, realize the real value of the property if they choose to sell. One person referred to helping to maintain the houses of existing residents in changing neighborhoods as “an inoculation against gentrification”. Keeping people in the homes they may have lived in for decades could reduce conflict when new development happens in neighborhoods. Studies show that the dollar amount that causes many long time residents to abandon their homes because of repair costs is heartbreakingly low.

NEIGHBORHOOD CHARACTER: Philadelphia is a city of rowhouses.

Practically, we are limiting the types of repair, especially in roofing, structure and plumbing layout. Even though they differ in size and appearance, these

houses have much in common as far as their construction. They are often small, with one bathroom, and are more affordable to maintain than a free standing house of equivalent size.

ENERGY AND WATER CONSERVATION: Preserving the buildings makes sense at an individual and a global scale. Making buildings more energy efficient and fixing the pipes will make them more economical for owners to maintain. New materials for repairs are limited, thus the embodied energy of building is much lower than that of new construction.

JOB CREATION AND SUPPORT FOR SMALL BUSINESS: Either transitional work with contractors or training in a specific trade will benefit local individuals and the neighborhood as a whole.

HISTORIC PRESERVATION: In the bigger picture, it could be argued that this is the future of historic preservation. Many buildings saved will not be “capital A” architecture, but singly or as a row, most will have wonderful architectural character, and together they make up the history we live in.

Just as important as preserving the buildings for future generations is the preservation of cultural resources. Several generations have lived in many of these houses. By assisting those who cannot afford repairs, some of the valuable cultural history of the neighborhood remains, even as residents and buildings inevitably change.

Jill sums up the goal of her new position as Executive Director, saying, “The most affordable house is one that has already been built. We have an amazing opportunity here to improve conditions in those homes, and to allow adults and children to succeed rather than just to survive.” ■ Kiki Bolender, AIA, LEED AP, is principal at Bolender Architects and a Board member of AIA Philadelphia. With Karen Black she founded the Healthy Rowhouse Project in 2014.

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SOUTH PHILADELPHIA COMMUNITY HEALTH AND LITERACY CENTER

VSBA, LLC

The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and the City of Philadelphia joined together to create the new South Philadelphia Community Health and Literacy Center. This innovative facility will offer clinical care, education and research, support services, and recreation to a diverse population from the surrounding communities. It combines a CHOP primary care practice, a city health center, a branch of the Free Library, a recreational facility with playground, and enclosed parking for staff. The project has targeted LEED Silver certification.

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PHOTO: DAVID HATTON, VSBA

DESIGN PROFILE Inside, a common circulation core serves the library and clinical spaces.

The library has general seating arrayed along the Broad Street side as well as clusters of flexible seating and collections defining areas for different age groups and activities. Enclosed spaces include a dividable multi-purpose room and a combination computer lab and “maker space.”

Clinical floors above have waiting areas overlooking Broad Street with activities organized along color-coded corridors extending from the waiting areas. Staff areas have discreet entrances from the lobbies and are separated from patient areas.

The site – extending from Broad Street to 15th Street and from Morris Street to Castle Avenue – is surrounded on three sides by 19th century townhouses. Broad Street is characterized by a vibrant mix of activities and uses. Originally lined with grand houses, it’s evolving as a home to commercial activities and institutions that benefit from the high visibility and proximity to transit. The Center angles back at the corner of Broad and Morris to form an entry plaza, with a sitting wall and planting bed extending from an entrance to the Broad Street subway. “See the Moon,” a sculpture of mother and child by Evelyn Keyser, sits at the south end of the bed and addresses pedestrians on Broad Street. Cantilevered upper floors highlight and protect the common entrance serving the library and health clinics. To the west, the recreation center, basketball court, and playground engage the surrounding residential neighborhood.

The Broad Street façade is highly transparent: the upper two stories feature rhythmically arrayed vertical units of glazed curtain-wall and striped metal panels displaying CHOP’s colors. A continuous aluminum signband dedicates and identifies the building while adding a contrasting horizontal element. At street level, large aluminum windows divided by cast stone piers give views into the library. Together, these elements bring civic scale, individual and collective identity, and a touch of fun. In contrast, façades facing the residential streets combine more traditional red brick and punched window openings. A cast stone base and belt courses provide horizontal accents. ■

PROJECT: South Philadelphia Community Health and Literacy Center LOCATION: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania CLIENT: Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the City of Philadelphia PROJECT SIZE: 96,500 GSF PROJECT TEAM: VSBA, LLC (Architect and Planner) Bruce E. Brooks and Associates (M/E/P Engineer) Keast & Hood, Co. (Structural Engineer) Pennoni Associates (Civil Engineer) Ground Reconsidered, Inc. (Landscape Architect) MedEquip Intl. (Medical Equipment Consultant) Metropolitan Acoustics (Acoustics and Audiovisual Consultant) CSS (Security Consultant) Re:Vision Architecture (Sustainability Consultant) Jensen Hughes (Code Consultant) International Consultants, Inc. (Cost Consultants) TBS Services (Envelope Consultant) Genesis (Commissioning Agent)

GOTTESMAN RTW ACADEMY

KSS Architects

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PHOTO: HALKIN MASON PHOTOGRAPHY

DESIGN PROFILE

Founded in 1967, Gottesman RTW Academy (GRTWA) serves approximately 225 children from early childhood education through eighth grade.

To achieve the school’s mission of nurturing students in an environment infused with the thoughtfulness and richness of Jewish life, KSS designed the new 48,000 sf educational facility with emphasis on connectivity with the environment, wellness, community, culture, and flexibility in dynamic, light-filled learning environments.

Emerging from the highest point on the hill top, the new school rises from the glacier-formed bedrock below. The exterior concrete alludes to the stone walls of Jerusalem, while vertical wooden slats filter natural light through the welcoming common space, echoing the surrounding landscape of mature trees – carefully preserved during construction.

Play is encouraged for early development and education, in secure dedicated spaces.

An unyielding dedication to nutritious meals and sustainable dining demonstrates GRTWA’s focus on spiritual and physical wellness. The farm-to-table experience begins with an aromatic garden for growing vegetables and traditional Judaic ceremonial herbs. An outdoor classroom in its own right, the garden area is where the seeds of intentional and thoughtful learning about the cultural relationship to both land and food is cultivated. Two kitchens, to maintain kosher processes, serve as a central gathering location in the building, in essence the “hearth and home” – supporting psychological comfort as well as religious tradition.

Near the kitchens and garden is a compost area where students can participate in the process of breaking down organic matter into humus that can be remixed into the garden soil.

Says one parent, “Gottesman Academy has been the thread that binds my family’s moral fiber.” The building design directly supports the wellness of the entire community—not only a place for learning, but also a place where families come together beyond the typical school day. Students, family and friends come together in the community spaces and cook meals in the kitchens, break bread in the lunchroom, and share in the wholesome community, embodying GRTWA’s graceful combination of spiritual and educational growth. ■

PROJECT: Gottesman RTW Academy LOCATION: Randolph, New Jersey CLIENT: Gottesman RTW Academy SIZE: 48,000 SF PROJECT TEAM: KSS Architects (Architect) Harrison-Hamnett (Structural Engineer) The Reynolds Group (Civil Engineer) The Rock Brook Consulting Group (Energy and Sustainability) Jacobs Doland Beer (Food Service) Toscano Clements Taylor (Cost Estimating) Construction Specifications, Inc. (Specifications)

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ANN B. BARSHINGER CANCER INSTITUTE

Ballinger Cancer is a traumatic and pervasive illness requiring careful diagnosis, iterative treatment regimens and extended healing. In response to a growing health system’s need for expanded oncology services the new Ann B. Barshinger Cancer Institute provides cancer patients with a comprehensive health care facility for diagnosis, treatment and healing. This center is designed to reconnect and heighten the relationships to natural systems that enhance the processes of healing and health.

In the entry court, a circular pool reflects the sky and a generous porch welcomes patients and their families. Once inside the twostory lobby, they have a glimpse of the courtyard garden above, and at the back of the space a “green” wall grows, bathed in light from above. The major materials are natural ones: wood, glazed terra cotta, and a light colored terrazzo floor; the backlit glass donor wall offers the support, hope, and testimony of others who have been on this same journey.

From here, the five ground floor diagnostic pods are accessed through colored-glass ‘portals’ off of a patient concourse that rings the interior brick retaining wall. This concourse provides seating areas and is visually connected to the upper Healing Garden and a concentric, continuous skylight above. While there is plenty of daylight, there is a sense that this floor is in the earth. Examination rooms and family consult areas are located along the exterior of the building with muted light filtering through the arcade outside. It is the most private and quietest part of the building; here, patients first confront their diagnosis and the long road ahead.

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PHOTO: @PETER AARON/ESTO

DESIGN PROFILE Later, when patients return for their rounds of infusion and/or radiation treatment, they ascend to the upper level where spaces are assembled along an art-filled concourse that circumnavigates the Healing Garden. The garden is accessible from multiple points in the concourse and designed to have year round interest, featuring plants that attract birds and butterflies. When it rains, the drops are heard on the skylight above; one can watch the water coursing through a series of scuppers and downspouts and flowing into a pebble filled channel around the Healing Garden.

Infusion is organized into four ‘pods’ of support with the treatment bays along the outer edge of the building, under the high roof, where patients can look out across a small porch above the arcade; its brick wall obscures the parking below, affording a view of treetops and the landscape and sky beyond. As the sun slides around the inside and outside arcs of the building, it marks the hours and the seasons, mediated by the deep roof overhang, interior trellises, light shelves and fritted glass. The meditation pavilion extends into the Healing Garden. Its convex form mimics the larger structure while providing privacy for its occupants as they look outward across a small reflecting pool to the garden. In this space, ground, water, garden and sky are reunited, promising a return to wholeness and health. ■

PROJECT: Ann B. Barshinger Cancer Institute LOCATION: Lancaster, Pennsylvania CLIENT: Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health SIZE: 100,000 SF PROJECT TEAM: Ballinger (Architect, M/E/P/Fire Protection Engineer, Interior Design) O’Donnell & Naccarato (Structural Engineer) The Lighting Practice (Lighting Design) Jonathan Alderson Landscape Architects (Landscape) Exit (Signage)

AIA Philadelphia | context | SUMMER 2016

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CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL OF PHILADELPHIA “WAIT, PLAY, LEARN”

Metcalfe Architecture & Design, LLC PHOTO: LAURIE BECK PETERSON

The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia chose the concept of “Children in Motion” for an overarching theme for their new outpatient facility, the Buerger Center for Advanced Pediatric Care. MA&D was engaged to bring this idea to life through a robust collection of interactive experiences and environmental graphics.

The interactive experiences range from gigantic pinwheel trees and mountain climbing-themed ball to customized video games. These unexpected moments of fun help to put patients and their families at ease in an otherwise stressful environment. They distract patients as they wait for their appointment, keep siblings occupied and imbue a sense of childlike playfulness throughout the facility.

CHOP provides care to a diverse array of cultures, ages and abilities.

Therefore, it was important to the hospital that the interactives appealed to a wide range of audiences. Just as importantly, each area had to conform to rigorous cleaning, maintenance and infection prevention standards. To minimize the transmission of germs to patients through 36 SUMMER 2016 | context | AIA Philadelphia

DESIGN PROFILE

physical contact with the interactives, nearly all exhibits functioned through the use of motion sensors rather than buttons or handles to grab. The interactives come alive simply by a child’s presence.

In tandem with the interactive exhibits, MA&D also developed an extensive environmental graphics package for the building. Each floor of the building was assigned a separate type of “motion” – Row, Fly, Roll and Climb. MA&D then selected hundreds of larger-than-life photographs to show various interpretations of these themes. The images were integrated at an oversized scale throughout elevator lobbies, check in desks and all patient exam rooms.

The graphics serve not only as extraordinary artwork – they are used as tools as well. Bold, oversized graphics are used as purposeful distraction from intimidating clinical machinery. The images are also featured in the wayfinding elements. Each exam room identifier contains a unique photograph to help parents recall in which room their child is being seen.

Building directories pair a listing of departments with iconic images for each floor which are then repeated on a macro scale in the respective floor’s elevator lobby.

Metcalfe’s design choices and decision making were driven by CHOP’s fundamental value of creating the ideal patient experience. Play is at the core of MA&D’s process, learned through their work in museums, gardens and schools. By combining playful learning with the principles of patient and family-centered care, MA&D was able to help set the stage for a positive healing process. ■

PROJECT: Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia “Wait, Play, Learn” LOCATION: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania CLIENT: Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia SIZE: 875,000 SF PROJECT TEAM: Metcalfe Architecture & Design, LLC (Environmental Graphics, Interactive Design, Wayfinding) Universal Services Associates, Inc. (Fabrication, Installation) Interactive Mechanics (Digital Interactive Design)

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A C H I E V E

N E W

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| context | AIA Philadelphia

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