PHILADELPHIA | The Mark at Philadelphia | 407 FT | 34 FLOORS

[Jawnadelphia]

Had to see it to believe it, woof! And still 10 more floors to go.

[towerpower123]

That facade is truly terrible. Low quality plastic materials

[Aether]

Cant believe im saying this, but i wish they built a glass box instead

[PHLtoNYC]

Originally Posted by Aether

Cant believe im saying this, but i wish they built a glass box instead

If you look at the last picture in the thread, the glass building to the rear (west) is apartments built ~10 years ago.

Amazing how much design standards have fallen in a decade. The rear building isn't exciting, but a perfectly acceptable high-rise, The Mark is not.

[El Duderino]

I'm guessing that all of that exposed concrete on the outside is going to get nothing more than a coat of paint, similar to what happened at the W.

[PHLtoNYC]

Originally Posted by El Duderino

I'm guessing that all of that exposed concrete on the outside is going to get nothing more than a coat of paint, similar to what happened at the W.

I stand corrected.

[TK2001]

The blank wall of the W is actually NOT clad in panels...the pattern you see was cast in the concrete. The core was bare concrete, then covered with a gray primer, then covered with the paint we see today

W/Element Hotel by Philly SkyGuy, on Flickr

This is the primer going on, November 2018

[Gatorade_Jim]

Originally Posted by TK2001

The blank wall of the W is actually NOT clad in panels...the pattern you see was cast in the concrete. The core was bare concrete, then covered with a gray primer, then covered with the paint we see today

W/Element Hotel by Philly SkyGuy, on Flickr

This is the primer going on, November 2018

Interesting. To be honest I've always thought it was a limestone veneer, so I guess it did it's job.

[Gatorade_Jim]

Originally Posted by Jawnadelphia

Had to see it to believe it, woof! And still 10 more floors to go.

I bet if they just did the grey metal paneling and made an actual effort to smooth the color transition from dark to light, it would look mildly interesting and unique. Instead we're left with this dog 🞵🞵🞵🞵.

[PHLtoNYC]

Originally Posted by TK2001

The blank wall of the W is actually NOT clad in panels...the pattern you see was cast in the concrete. The core was bare concrete, then covered with a gray primer, then covered with the paint we see today

W/Element Hotel by Philly SkyGuy, on Flickr

This is the primer going on, November 2018

Ah, thanks for that. The little grooves in the concrete make it look slightly more appealing, like panels.

[PHLJD13]

Originally Posted by PHLtoNYC

If you look at the last picture in the thread, the glass building to the rear (west) is apartments built ~10 years ago.

Amazing how much design standards have fallen in a decade. The rear building isn't exciting, but a perfectly acceptable high-rise, The Mark is not.

Couldn’t agree more. My taste often differs from others here because I Love a clean, minimalist glass tower. But it’s especially apparent here where towers like 3737 Chestnut (pictured above), EVO, or even The Summit are all approaching a decade or more in age and look more modern, or even futuristic, in comparison to this project which follows the trends of the day.

[Raja]

It's literally just as bad as, if not worse than, Philadelphia's two worst highrises:

https://www.google.com/maps/@39.9349957,..._ep=EgoyMDI1MDIxOS4xIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

https://www.google.com/maps/@39.9529085,..._ep=EgoyMDI1MDIxOS4xIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

[Arch+Eng]

Originally Posted by Raja

It's literally just as bad as, if not worse than, Philadelphia's two worst highrises:

https://www.google.com/maps/@39.9349957,..._ep=EgoyMDI1MDIxOS4xIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

https://www.google.com/maps/@39.9529085,..._ep=EgoyMDI1MDIxOS4xIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

How did they even get zoning to build something this tall this far south?
I always thought it would be cool for every section of the city to have its own mini skyline like NYC's boroughs.

Center City obviously has one, west philly has one now, north philly kind of does with Temple. South philly technically does now with the chop towers.

SW, NW, NE...well, those will be harder to accomplish.

[Broadcastthatboom]

I think the worst part of this is that it's SO tall and prominent in all views within University City.

[PHLtoNYC]

Originally Posted by Arch+Eng

How did they even get zoning to build something this tall this far south?
I always thought it would be cool for every section of the city to have its own mini skyline like NYC's boroughs.

Center City obviously has one, west philly has one now, north philly kind of does with Temple. South philly technically does now with the chop towers.

SW, NW, NE...well, those will be harder to accomplish.

Also NoLibs for North, if Post builds the 16-story tower at the Piazza and NRT builds the 23-story tower on 2nd St.

[Skytrunk]

Originally Posted by Raja

It's literally just as bad as, if not worse than, Philadelphia's two worst highrises:

https://www.google.com/maps/@39.9349957,..._ep=EgoyMDI1MDIxOS4xIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

https://www.google.com/maps/@39.9529085,..._ep=EgoyMDI1MDIxOS4xIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

The second one doesn't look that bad imo, at least on google maps street view. I think it just needed some other highrises (and maybe taller ones) in close proximity for it to work as a decent filler in the skyline. It would also help not being on the riverfront, but at least it's in an area kinda close to the big cluster of highrises.

Now, the first one...

I always thought developers in the USA couldn't build such tall buildings in lowrise areas. The design doesn't even fit in with the style of the surrounding buildings (which look really nice).

[PurpleWhiteOut]

Originally Posted by Arch+Eng

How did they even get zoning to build something this tall this far south?
I always thought it would be cool for every section of the city to have its own mini skyline like NYC's boroughs.

SW, NW, NE...well, those will be harder to accomplish.

IIRC that tower is leftover from the previous set of public housing towers. There are a few other out of the way places where PHA has left one tower to be senior housing while rebuilding the rest

[Raja]

Originally Posted by PurpleWhiteOut

IIRC that tower is leftover from the previous set of public housing towers. There are a few other out of the way places where PHA has left one tower to be senior housing while rebuilding the rest

Yes. It was the Southwark towers; they demo'd the other two and left this one up as I think senior housing?? Anyway it is no longer Philadelphia's ugliest building!

[bdurk]

I actually like that Southwark tower lol. I think it looks interesting for its location. There's another one like that in West Poplar, just a single senior living tower surrounded by PHA housing.

[UrbanRevival]

Originally Posted by towerpower123

That facade is truly terrible. Low quality plastic materials

They're not plastic; they're metal/concrete panels.

And I don't think they're inherently low quality in function or materiality. It's just the aesthetic value of a building being composed overwhelmingly of this kind of paneling (and exposed concrete columns, to boot) is objectively awful.

The window sizing/proportions in the project rendering was also super misleading. Definitely a bait-and-switch on appearance.