The City of Philadelphia has announced a $2.2 billion development on the Penn’s Landing site beside the Delaware River. The twelve towers include apartments, offices, and a hotel, the architects are Pelli Clarke Pelli and Bjarke Ingels Group. PCP has already designed high-rise buildings in the city; BIG is a newcomer. Both continue the recent pattern of importing outsiders such as Vinoly, Foster, Gehry, Snøhetta, Williams & Tsien, Pei Cobb Freed, Ennead—the usual suspects. Philadelphia, like most big cities, once had its own stable of eminent practitioners—Strickland, Walter, Furness, Cope & Stewardson, Eyre, Trumbauer, Cret, Howe—and their buildings gave the city its own particular character. That is gone. Now what we get are generic solutions that could be anywhere. The proposed Penn’s Landing buildings will be all-glass, of course.
Love the title !
It seems that every City needs to have its Mini Dubai…….
Milano had the vision to move the Convention Center to the outskirts of the City but got lost developing City Life
NY got Hudson Yards
Now is Philadelphia turn with Dubai on the Delaware……….
We are seeing the same thing in Dallas. Developers and Dallas society are very taken with names. The current arts district is essentially built by a list of starchitects, with little regard for local architects except as architect of record.