Like the prow of a ship, the main facade of Drexel
University's new business school at 32d and Market Streets steers toward Center
City, straining to narrow the two-block gap between the Schuylkill and its
fast-growing campus. In a bit of overt symbolism, the university even relocated
a statue of founder Anthony Drexel to the entrance plaza, so he now stands
firmly at the helm of this eastward venture.
Under its current president, John A. Fry, Drexel has made no
secret of its desire to fill that bleak, underutilized space with the sleek
towers of a new technology-dominated neighborhood. Consider the new Gerri C.
LeBow Hall, named for the late wife of the business school's main benefactor,
the advance guard in that effort.
Whenever a private institution expresses such grand
territorial ambitions, city residents have reason to be wary. This is
especially true in West Philadelphia, where there is a history of blunt urban
renewal by its two academic powerhouses. But if LeBow's design is any
indication, Drexel recognizes its obligation to create vibrant spaces that
benefit the whole city.
The 12-story, glass-and-limestone tower does a brilliant job
of helping to turn the badly treated Market Street intersection back into a
real place again. As pure design, the $92 million LeBow Hall is also the most
satisfying of Drexel's recent construction. Instead of reflexively piling on
marble for future masters of the universe, as many business schools do, LeBow
conjures real architecture out of space and light.
The surprise is that the designers of this smart,
contemporary building are none other than Robert A.M. Stern Architects and
Philadelphia's Voith & Mactavish Architects. These firms typically work in
a neo-traditionalist style (e.g. Stern's 10 Rittenhouse) that can be cloying
and, in the case of Stern, occasionally bombastic (the Harvard Law School's
Wasserstein Hall).
But Stern's firm actually does a lot of code-switching
between modern and traditional designs, and is best known in Philadelphia for
its all-glass Comcast tower. The two firms' interest in historical buildings
has given them a strong urbanist sensibility, which they use to good advantage at
LeBow.
Drexel, like its neighbor the University of Pennsylvania,
has been increasingly focused on installing lively buildings to reinvigorate
the city streets damaged during the heyday of campus-building, when the two
schools were both intent on walling themselves off from the rest of
Philadelphia. Take Drexel's new Chestnut Square dorm, also by Stern's firm:
Grafted onto the front of the Mandell Theater, it is now lined with retail,
much like a good apartment house.
Since LeBow does not include retail, other than the
obligatory Starbucks, the designers had to find other means to connect to the
surroundings. Their strategy was to honor the site's urban past.
You might never suspect it today, but 32d and Market was
once a major crossroads, the spot where Lancaster and Woodland Avenues
converged. Decades ago, the two colonial-era roads were wiped off the map, the
road straightened, and the intersection reduced to a generic highway node,
dominated by a Firestone dealer and a drive-through bank. The only evidence of
its past glory is Frank Furness' great Centennial National Bank, whose angled
facade was meant to align with Woodland Avenue.
Inspired by Furness' design, LeBow's architects shaped its
base to echo all three streets - Woodland, Lancaster and Market. The gesture
goes a long way to restoring the memory of the intersection's lost urban
geometry.
You can see it most strongly on the 32d Street corner, where
LeBow's shaved facade acts a counterpoint to Furness' Centennial Bank. By
setting up the two contrasting angles - one in red brick, the other in gray
glass - the architects establish the beginnings of a strong urban ensemble. The
building that previously occupied the site, one of Drexel's '60s-era
orange-brick towers, was so generic, it could have existed anywhere.
By playing the angles, the architects also have produced a
very dynamic building that seems to swirl around the site. While the base is
bounded by the lines of the vanished streets, the limestone tower sits almost
perpendicular to Market Street. Its canted window dividers further emphasize
the rippling sense of movement. Not surprisingly, the tower, which has the best
views of Center City, houses faculty offices.
The architects distinguish the classroom portion in the base
by using glass bays. Each facade has a slightly different rhythm, in response
to the conditions on the ground. The south side of the building follows
Woodland Walk, creating a strong edge for the renovated Drexel Quadrangle.
Right now, the space is fairly bland, but it provides a frame for admiring
Drexel's other new buildings, Chestnut Square and the Papadakis Integrated
Sciences Building, which both reflect Drexel's shift to a white color scheme.
What makes LeBow's design especially impressive is that the
exterior sensibility is carried over into the interior to form a triangular
atrium. Painted almost entirely in white, the space is modulated by a deft
arrangement of arcades and bays. Light tumbles in from clerestory windows, and
bounces gently off fins and columns. The intricate geometry calls to mind one
of the small baroque churches of the Roman architect Borromini - sans the
sculpture, of course.
Like classical architecture, the atrium is a study in
perspective. The triangle terminates on the east in a sharp point. At the west
end, the architects hung a ceremonial staircase. While it looks impressive
against a persimmon background, close up you see it is supported by metal
poles. That's like a magician letting you see how the trick is done.
That's a small quibble. Otherwise, LeBow is packed with
comfortable nooks and lounges for studying. Indeed, like so many academic
buildings today, it seems to be all lounges.
Looking out its generous windows toward Market Street, you
can't help but wonder what will happen next at this intersection. Drexel has
acquired the other two corners - paying a whopping $9 million for the
30,000-square-foot Firestone site, which it hopes to use for a new student
center. In a few years' time, 32d and Market will likely be the heart of the
Drexel campus. By then, its awful days as a highway strip should be just a
memory.
