Pretty curves all in a row
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.
Categories: The Press
Changing Skyline: A gossamer update to a redbrick tradition
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.
Categories: The Press
Changing Skyline: Putting pizzazz into Market East
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?
Categories: The Press
Phila. firm will design U.S. Embassy in London
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.
Categories: The Press
Changing Skyline: A peerless plan for a Philly pier
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.
Categories: The Press
Changing Skyline: Courting mediocrity with bland designing
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.
Categories: The Press
Changing Skyline: An umbrella for pedestrians
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.
Categories: The Press
Changing Skyline: Fresh food amid a stale design
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.
Categories: The Press
Changing Skyline: Rittenhouse Square's traditionalist pretender
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:
Categories: The Press
Changing Skyline: The sensuous city
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.
Categories: The Press
Eco-Quotable: Chloe Sevigny
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...
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City Unions Want Budget To Protect Jobs
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City Kicks Off Fundraising For Pools
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QVC prices $1B in senior notes
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)
Categories: The Press
University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine dean Rubenstein leaving next year
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.
Categories: The Press
Teva to buy fellow generic drug giant Ratiopharm for $5B
Generic drug giant Teva has agreed to buy Ratiopharm, a German generic drug manufacturer, for $4.97 billion. (TEVA) (PFE)
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Philadelphia is lucky to have casino mogul
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.
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DRPA approves contract for Phila. light-rail studies
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.
Categories: The Press
Hearing on Soda Tax, Trash Fee Heats Up
Categories: The Press