First there was the proposal for the bland condo tower on
top of a parking garage. Then there was the schlocky box, slicked with stucco
like a cheap motel. Now there is a shapely, Miami-white apartment building that
teases Philadelphia with the possibility of real architecture.
Given how many proposals have come and fizzled, you may be
inclined to ignore the latest design for the Delaware waterfront site that hugs
the north side of the Ben Franklin Bridge's stone abutment. But the new
version, created by a new architect for a new developer, appears to have legs.
So, it's time to pay attention.
Jonathan S. Stavin, vice president of PMC Property Group,
says he will break ground in July if it gets the go-ahead Tuesday from the
city's Civic Design Review board. Although the board demanded improvements at
an earlier hearing, the original design by the Varenhorst firm is
enthusiastically supported by the Delaware River Waterfront Corp. and the
Central Delaware Advocacy Group. The pressure to approve the project, now
called 1 Water Street, will be strong.
Let's hope the review board, which has a strong independent
streak, doesn't let PMC off too easy. It will be hard not to give in, since
Varenhorst's design is far better than earlier proposals - proof that it is
possible to break free of the dumb-box mentality that afflicts so many
Philadelphia developments.
But Varenhorst's mid-rise looks good only by comparison.
This would be the first new residence on the Delaware since the adoption of the
master plan, yet the design fails to heed its most basic recommendation: Help
the waterfront evolve into a lively, 24/7 place.
As Varenhorst demonstrated with 1900 Arch and 2040 Market
(formerly AAA's headquarters), its strong suit is arranging the pieces on the
site. Here, it reduced the massiveness of the 250-unit building by splitting
the apartment house into distinct 13- and 16-story sections and angling them in
a way to preserve a view of the bridge's majestic stone abutment, a historic
feature designed by the great Paul Philippe Cret.
The taller north wing, meanwhile, was sliced vertically, so
it appears thinner. You have to give PMC a big hand, too, for slashing the
number of parking spaces to 74, down from the earlier 180.
But other than housing its residents with a little more
flair, PMC's building won't do much to create the nucleus of a new neighborhood
on that lonely stretch of Delaware Avenue.
PMC is certainly aware of the problem. To create a semblance
of activity on the street, it plans to house a fancy, double-height gym in the
glassy base of the vertical tower. It also hired David Rubin, the landscape architect
who created Lenfest Plaza, to design a thin, linear park along Columbus
Boulevard. Those efforts don't go far enough.
The city's poobahs are always telling us that creating a
"critical mass" of people is the first step to sparking the creation
of a neighborhood. If that's true, then why is the zone around the Dockside
apartments - a few blocks north on Columbus Boulevard - still so dead a decade
after its opening?
Dockside remains an island because no one other than its
residents and their guests have a reason to walk there. Its ground floor
includes no restaurant, no cafe, no convenience store, no dry cleaner - nothing
that might connect it to the larger world.
Just like 1 Water Street, Dockside promised that its
"public space," a plaza featuring a school of swimming fish by
sculptor Magdalena Abakanowicz, would help make it a destination. But there are
plenty of friendlier places to sit and look at the water.
1 Water Street also violates the master plan's recommended
height. I'm not particularly troubled by the extra stature - 135 feet on the
south, 190 on the north - since it's a relatively modest increase over the base
zoning's 120 feet.
What does bother me is how PMC managed to legalize the added
height using the zoning code's bonus system. PMC earned an extra 24 feet for
creating public space. If the public space were truly usable, OK. But to
increase the height for a measly strip of decorative greenery seems excessively
generous. Part of PMC's bonus also comes from landscaping the giant automobile
turnaround at the north end of the site. Seriously, now.
PMC added another 48 feet for including 25 subsidized
apartments, which seems more justified. One-bedrooms will rent for $980,
instead of $1,600.
PMC could help remedy the lack of ground-level activity by
including a cafe or restaurant facing the linear park. Stavin is resistant
because he says the location is still too far off the beaten path for foot
traffic. Tell that to the thousands of people who crowd the Morgan's Pier beer
garden across the street or attend performances at FringeArts' spectacular new
theater on the south side of the bridge. Visitors to the Race Street Pier park
would surely be grateful for a place to grab a coffee.
If only a single cafe were all it took to improve the design.
Despite Varenhorst's admirable effort to give the building a dynamic shape, the
review board should be deeply concerned about a little thing called
architecture. When they meet Tuesday at 1515 Arch, all they have to do is
swivel their heads and look west, to Varenhorst's 1900 Arch project.
Clad in a random pattern of blue and gray aluminum panels,
it may be the most dispiriting apartment facade since you-know-which pink tower
on Broad Street. The patterning makes no sense, nor does the big flat blank
expanse on the all-important Arch Street corner. There is almost zero
modulation to give the surface texture and shadow. If it weren't for the
windows, you might mistake it for those mountains of shipping containers you
see near ports.
Imagine that metal mountain next to the massive granite
stones of Cret's abutment, albeit in a more muted gray-and-white palette.
Philadelphia has been so desperate for waterfront development that it's
tempting to fall in love with the first decent proposal that comes along. If
this is the one, it still needs work.
Source: Philly.com
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