Tim- Yes, indeed, urban surgery.... but I am wondering if part of the power of that bldg-cum-site is the awesome scalelessness of the generating station counterpointed by the fierce emptiness and vacant lot voids of what surrounds it- all the more surprising to find it very near the heart of Philadelphia. And so- if that is the essential GENIUS LOCI (as per NorbergSchulz) of the situation- I am arguing that you want to intensify its power, but not lose its soul by changing it into something very different. Yes, you want to calculate paths of movement that pull diverse uses to and thru the site, and encountering/interacting with each other....in the vicinity and in the building itself. But if the end result is a sort of Jane Jacob's heavily tree-lined, cafe-laden, pretty-paving-patterned, namebrandstore-lined neighborhood...well, has its lost its raw gutsy power in its successful gentrification? I don't think that is your goal.
One other building-related issue: what WILL happen inside? Is there an optimal program developing that can draw users into that area? With all the very good and exciting emphasis on the immediate area itself, there hasn't been much serious discussion on what might activate the insides of that shell.
creating a new condition/intervention/insertion at 9th and callowhill streets where looking at the historical contents of the site and reviving them back into shape of the area to nourish and catylize it. reacting to the old existing fabric and mediating with seperate individual actions and bringing them together to create a new whole
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Tim-
Yes, indeed, urban surgery.... but I am wondering if part of the power of that bldg-cum-site is the awesome scalelessness of the generating station counterpointed by the fierce emptiness and vacant lot voids of what surrounds it- all the more surprising to find it very near the heart of Philadelphia. And so- if that is the essential GENIUS LOCI (as per NorbergSchulz) of the situation- I am arguing that you want to intensify its power, but not lose its soul by changing it into something very different. Yes, you want to calculate paths of movement that pull diverse uses to and thru the site, and encountering/interacting with each other....in the vicinity and in the building itself. But if the end result is a sort of Jane Jacob's heavily tree-lined, cafe-laden, pretty-paving-patterned, namebrandstore-lined neighborhood...well, has its lost its raw gutsy power in its successful gentrification? I don't think that is your goal.
One other building-related issue: what WILL happen inside? Is there an optimal program developing that can draw users into that area? With all the very good and exciting emphasis on the immediate area itself, there hasn't been much serious discussion on what might activate the insides of that shell.
jp
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