Plan Philly: Engaging in Urban Dialogue

Philadelphia is such a relentlessly right-angled city, a place so completely devoted to its colonial grid, that it's not surprising that some architectural dissidents would insist on flaunting their curves. The PSFS tower, now the Loews Hotel, is the city's best-known nonconformist, but plenty of modest rowhouses also break out of the box with similar hip-jutting moves.

Bit by bit, the University of Pennsylvania is emerging from its redbrick rut. For years, Penn seemed incapable of putting up a new building that didn't include heaping quantities of those little red rectangles, along with gooey allusions to Philadelphia's Colonial past. The effect was to make the Ivy League campus feel like a place stuck in time, rather than one engaged in vital intellectual pursuits.

What influences the public's perception of Market East more: The mobs of rampaging teens who have descended on the Gallery mall over the last few weeks? Or the building's gloomy fortress walls, which have weighed down Philadelphia's traditional shopping street for well over three decades?

In the hope of ending its reputation for Fortress America-style embassies, the State Department yesterday selected a Philadelphia architecture firm known for its thoughtful and environmentally rigorous work to design a new, more welcoming U.S. Embassy in London.

When the Delaware River Waterfront Corp. selected Field Operations last fall to design a new park at the Race Street pier, it was hard to shake off a certain feeling of trepidation.

Philadelphia officials are usually generous architecture critics. There's nothing that they seem to enjoy more than crowing about their latest building project. Yet, even the city's most gregarious boosters are having trouble mustering nice words for the new Family Court building, planned for 15th and Arch Streets.

Young-Hwan Choi arrived in Philadelphia from his native South Korea in August. By October, the University of Pennsylvania architecture student had devised an elegant new design for the sidewalk sheds that protect pedestrians during construction. And he was barely into his second semester when New York announced it was adopting his innovative system as its official prototype.

During the last decade, America's supermarket chains made a startling discovery: City residents have to eat, too. The chains went into expansion mode, erecting spacious, modern stores in Philadelphia neighborhoods that hadn't seen a fresh apple in decades.

Let's cut to the chase on the architectural merits of 10 Rittenhouse, the poshly proper apartment house that has lately assumed its place on Rittenhouse Square's northeast corner, as if the location were its birthright:

The television series Sex and the City debuted in 1998, the same year I began writing about architecture and cities for The Inquirer. Little did I guess back then that Carrie Bradshaw's glamorous gallivanting through the streets of Gotham signaled a major image update for America's cities, from lawless jungles to middle-class playgrounds. It's the city that's sexy now.

Who would have guessed she has a "Big Love" for the environment too? "Being eco-friendly makes you feel good about yourself. Who cares if people call you a hippie?" -Chloë Sevigny, of Big Love Fame That's not all - she lists her green habits as...

QVC Inc. said Wednesday it has priced $1 billion of new senior secured notes at par in an offering it expects will close on or about next Tuesday. (LINTA)

Dr. Arthur Rubenstein is stepping down as dean of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and executive vice president of the University of Pennsylvania Health System after he completes his current term on June 30, 2011.

Generic drug giant Teva has agreed to buy Ratiopharm, a German generic drug manufacturer, for $4.97 billion. (TEVA) (PFE)

By Steve Friess As Philadelphia's gambling critics were jumping to groundless conclusions about Steve Wynn's plans for a waterfront casino in their city, Roger Thomas was musing about what it might actually look like.

A waterfront rail line in Philadelphia moved closer to reality yesterday as the Delaware River Port Authority approved a $6.5 million contract for environmental studies and preliminary design.