VSBA : Venturi Scott Brown and Associates Architecture - Penn's Landing - Some Things to Consider/TITLE> <META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"/> <META name="description" Content="VSBA -- Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates, Inc., Architects and Planners - Some Things to Consider"/> <META Name="keywords" Content="Architecture Firm Philadelphia, Architecture, Penn's Landing, Buildings, Toulouse, Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates, Inc., VSBA, Bob Venturi, Robert Venturi, Robert Venturi FAIA, Denise Scott Brown, Denise Scott Brown RIBA, Steve Izenour, Steven Izenour, Steven Izenour AIA, Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates, Architecture, Picture Projects, James Kolker, John Hunter, David Marohn, Daniel McCoubrey, Timothy Kearney, Eva Lew, Nancy Rogo Trainer, James Wallace, Postmodernism, Postmodern, Modern Architecture, Postmodern architecture, Campus Architecture, University architecture, College Architecture, Contemporary architecture, Residential architecture, Urban planning, Firehouse architecture, Museum architecture, Academic Buildings, Labs, Libraries, Student Centers, Civic Architecture, Art Museums, Government Buildings, Hotels, Office Buildings, Urban Planning, Campus Planning, Urban Design, Houses, Books, Exhibits, Exhibitions, Design, Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture, Iconography and Electronics, Learning from Las Vegas, Buildings and Projects, On Houses and Housing, Ambiguity In Architecture, Architecture And Decorative Arts, Bard College: The Charles P. 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What should Philadelphia consider before making decisions for this important location? <br> <br> We could start with an eyeful of reality. What do we have now and how did we get it? Mapping brings the discussion onto the site. In this framing study, we have mapped what’s there, but not as a camera shot. Our maps are analytic. They take the data apart and recombine it in various ways, hoping to get behind appearances. <br> <br> We aim to understand the patterns of activities on and around Penn’s Landing and to gain a sense of where they are going. Analytic cross cuts and overlays lead, step by step, to synthesis. Slowly the trends become apparent. Can we gain an understanding of where we might direct them?<br> <br> The following maps and diagrams make up the body of this document:<br> <br> <strong>1. PHILADELPHIA’S MULTIPLE SCALES <br> <img src="images/wspacer.png" width="12" height="10">OF ATTRACTION -- <br> <img src="images/wspacer.png" width="12" height="10">GLOBAL AND NATIONAL, <br> <img src="images/wspacer.png" width="12" height="10">MID-ATLANTIC.<br> <img src="images/wspacer.png" width="12" height="10">REGIONAL.<br> <br> 2. LOCAL SCALE, NATIONAL <br> <img src="images/wspacer.png" width="12" height="10">ATTRACTIONS.<br> <img src="images/wspacer.png" width="12" height="10">NATIONAL SHRINES, PENN’S LANDING AND<br><img src="images/wspacer.png" width="12" height="10">CAMDEN.<br> <br> 3. HOW SHOULD PENN’S LANDING <br> <img src="images/wspacer.png" width="12" height="10">FULFILL THE </strong></font><font color="#000000" size="2"><strong>NEEDS OF ITS USERS?<br> <img src="images/wspacer.png" width="12" height="10">CITY SYMBOLS AND A PENN’S <br> <img src="images/wspacer.png" width="12" height="10">LANDING SYMBOL.<br> <br> 4. LAND USE 1958.<br> <img src="images/wspacer.png" width="12" height="10">LAND USE 1990s.<br> <br> 5. ZONING PLAN OF PHILADELPHIA.<br> <img src="images/wspacer.png" width="12" height="10">NEIGHBORHOODS AND THE <br> <img src="images/wspacer.png" width="12" height="10">DELAWARE.<br> <br> 6. AUTO ACCESS.<br> <img src="images/wspacer.png" width="12" height="10">WATERFRONT FUN.<br> <br> 7. TRANSIT ACCESS.<br> <img src="images/wspacer.png" width="13" height="10">PENN’S LANDING LEVERAGE.<br> <br> 8. PEDESTRIAN ACCESS.<br> <img src="images/wspacer.png" width="12" height="10">SOME VENETIAN BRIDGES.<br> <br> 9. SITE ACCESS & LEVELS.<br> <img src="images/wspacer.png" width="12" height="10">SECTIONS.<br> <br> 10. PENN’S LANDING: PUBLIC & <br> <img src="images/wspacer.png" width="19" height="10">PRIVATE.<br> <img src="images/wspacer.png" width="19" height="10">CENTRALITY AND LEVERAGE.</strong></font></p> </td> <td width="285" align="left" valign="top"><font color="#333333" size="2">The maps can be shared with others. Their findings can be formulated as questions for discussion by a community of interested citizens. <br> <br> Unsuccessful efforts to develop the site since the 1970s suggest a change of philosophy is needed. Present dreams may not be realizable. Yet consider the case of Baltimore. Most of its success has depended on visitors from Philadelphia. Why can they journey to Baltimore but not cross the I-95 to Penn’s Landing?<br> <br> And compare Penn’s Landing with some Philadelphia “lost areas” that seem to have recovered, for example, South Street and Main Street, Manayunk. Granted they are different but, for each, the essence of finding success was to attract multilayered patronage, beyond the local users who were once their support. What might this mean for Penn’s Landing?<br> <br> <strong>SOME QUESTIONS TO DISCUSS</strong><br> <br> 1. Philadelphia’s multiple scales of attraction, from global to local -- what should be Penn’s Landing’s relation to each? What multi-layered, multicultural activities would best serve this city and its world of users now?<br> <br> 2. National and regional attractions within the city -- how should Penn’s Landing link with these?<br> <br> 3. National shrines and the Camden waterfront -- should Penn’s Landing have a special relation with these?<br> <br> 4. Penn’s Landing was Philadelphia’s point of origin -- should the city go global from where Penn Landed? How would it do that?<br> <br> 5. How should Penn’s Landing fulfill the needs of individuals, small groups, Sunday strollers, and one million people? Of visitors, tourists, suburbanites, Center City and local neighborhood residents, special groups including school kids, and individuals? Of people who live and work on the site?<br> <br> 6. Philadelphia icons -- in a city of many symbols, what should Penn’s Landing symbolize?<br> <br> 7. Patterns of land use -- what new activities on the waterfront might help re-establish city-river connections that were destroyed by the I-95 and Independence Mall? What should be Penn’s Landing’s part of the pattern? What could be the relation of waterfront uses to emerging patterns of land use city-wide? <br> <br> 8. Neighborhoods and the Delaware -- how might the different neighborhoods relate to Penn’s Landing? Given that neighborhoods north and south are more accessible to I-95 than is Penn’s Landing, what share of overall river-related development can they assume? How might this affect what Penn’s Landing might provide?</font></td> <td width="285" align="left" valign="top"><font color="#000000" size="2">9. Auto access and waterfront fun -- limitations of access that have hampered the development of Penn’s Landing have benefited the waterfront north and south of it. What measures would be feasible to improve access to Penn’s Landing from I-95? If the limits remain, can we consider the longer waterfront as the beneficiaries of the highway and assign Penn’s Landing a role geared to its limitations? What role?<br> <br> 10. Transit access and Penn’s Landing leverage -- Penn’s Landing is accessible from Center City by mass transit. What roles does this suggest for it in relation to uses on Market and Chestnut Streets and to waterfront uses north and south? What should lie at the heart? If investment in Penn’s Landing is considered as leveraged over an area larger than its 13 acres, what area should this be?<br> <br> 11. Pedestrian access -- why is it so unpleasant to cross the I-95? What can we learn from successful long bridges? How can we create a fun, civic bridge 1055 ft. long?<br> <br> 12. The site -- given it dimensions horizontally and vertically, what is its capacity?<br> <br> 13. If Penn’s landing is at the center of a lively waterfront -- should it be seen as the jewel in the waterfront crown? What activities would support this role? <br> <br> 14. Public and private -- what should remain public on the site? What should be the ratio of public and private uses? Of open space and enclosed space? Of spaces that can be both? Where should the public space be? What can private developers reasonably be expected to offer on the site and what might government be expected to provide to support that offer? What beyond private uses is needed?<br> <br> 15. Principles and guidelines -- what should these cover? Choices of activities? The physical and aesthetic character of buildings and spaces? Controls on views and vistas? Suggestions for programs and operations? Ideas on areas for further study and planning? <br> <br> <strong>CONCLUSIONS</strong><br> <br> Penn’s Landing could be a central offering of Philadelphia, one deeply tied to its founding myth, multilayered, and appealing to a range of users from the global to the local. The region it could benefit is vast, and the multiplier effect of tax expenditures to build it should be calculated on the activities it has generated and can generate, all around it. <br> <br> In taking a broad-based view of these 13 acres, can we come to a dream for Penn’s Landing that is buildable?<a href="pl_3.html"><img src="images/proceed.gif" alt="go to images" width="257" height="40" border="0"></a></font></td> </tr> </table> </body> </html>