PHILADELPHIA | Lowrise/General Developments Thread

[hammersklavier]

Some new updates:

Pearson-McGonigle: They are cantilevering the new top floor over the old Pearson Hall building. It's quite impressive: they've got a really thick truss going on up there.
South Gateway Dorm: Still digging. This is the biggest project currently being worked on, and they need to get a 14-story tower properly anchored.
International House: The bottom half is fully framed out. Above the top floor, though, it's all in wood.
Architecture School: ???

[Parkway]

The Architecture building is being assembled off site and then being trucked in and the modules will be assembled once the foundation is finished. This information comes from my brother who is in the Architecture program here at Temple.

Oh and they have started the foundation work for it.

[Parkway]

As promised, here are the pictures

The Architecture Building


Pearson McGonigal


International House

[thenbagis]

Thanks for the updates. There is a ton going on.

[We Got Five]

The hope is that some of this development will impact ticket sales for the Men's and Women's basketball teams. As a Top 25 program and 3 time defending A-10 Champion - we should draw more than 5,000 a game.

[Parkway]

Originally Posted by We Got Five

The hope is that some of this development will impact ticket sales for the Men's and Women's basketball teams. As a Top 25 program and 3 time defending A-10 Champion - we should draw more than 5,000 a game.

I hope it will too, but I think this is as much due to a lack of alumni support as anything else. Thenbagis, there is a ton going on including a private housing boom, last time I was looking around I counted 9 houses in various stages of construction.

[Parkway]

Even more pictures taken fresh this afternoon. (the others were more than a week old.)

South Gate Residence Hall




International House



Pearson McGonigal


Other Random Student Housing
17th and Cecil B 18th South of Norris
16th and Sesquehanna 8 unit apartment building

Norris Street Homes

[Chtorr00]

Originally Posted by apetrella802

What actually is in the Will is a stipulation that the physiacal and spacial arrangement of the art work on the walls is NOT to be changed! Why? because as you probably know Barnes had a very ideosyncratic aesthetic philosophy which is reflected in the peculiar arrangment of his paintings. This is what was most important to him. This WILL(no PUN intended) be respected in the new building! Maybe over time this will change by the court order allowing the move does require that this be horored.

I have seen the Barnes collection both in its native Merion location as well at at the National Gallery in DC when the collection went on the road during the rehab of the Merion facility. The exhibit at the National Gallery displayed the collection in conventional Museum format: white walls, one painting to a wall, helpful information placard. After seeing both, I would strongly assert that Barnes might have had some offbeat ideas about aesthetics, but there was a method to his madness.

Seeing the Barnes paintings in DC was much like looking at the nice Cezanne paintings at the Philadelphia Art Museum. Very pretty, but the impact is much reduced compared to the way that Barnes chose to display the paintings in Merion. The Barnes arrangement somehow distills Impressionism and injects it straight into your veins.

At least for me, I got the sense of how all of the painters were attempting to play with the same elements of light, and line, and color, but each of them was playing with those elements in a unique way. It just isn't the same when the paintings are displayed in the conventional fashion.

Preserving the Barnes arrangements of the paintings is going to be key to the success of the museum. It is going to offer an art experience unlike anything else in the world...and you can see it only in Philadelphia.

[volguus zildrohar]

Cell phone photo of the Convention Center:



And cell phone video:

• Video Link

[thenbagis]

moved comment to general developement since thats where the discussion really is

[sentinel]

Just watched 'The Art of the Steal' last night, about the original location of the Barnes collection and all of the controversy surrounding the motives and machinations to move it to Philly - really interesting stuff, kind of a one-sided film, but considering that none of the 'pro-moving' constituents wanted to be interviewed (Rimel, the mayor, etc, other than Rendell and the former Atty General) I don' think the filmmakers had a choice. It was stunning to learn the value of the original collection, $25-30 Billion! Yikes! What I thought was really interesting though was the fact that even though Barnes stated that the collection was to remain in Marion(sp?), it's only 4 miles or so to it's new location on the Parkway; it wasn't like the collection was being moved across the state, or into another city altogether (Apologies, not sure if the film has been brought up in this thread before, but it's available on Netflix instant watch and I highly recommend it). However one feels about the move of the collection, I think you guys are lucky to have such an important private collection there in Philly.

[apetrella802]

I'll say one last time, all legal athorities have made clear that Barnes' will stipulated that if ANY circumstance made it untenable for the collection to stay at that location, e.g, financial(too little income from current location) it could move to Philadelphia or one of its suburbs. It did say that the display of the art work in a new location must remain the same as that in the current location. This was what was most important to Barnes since the way in which he displayed the paintings was based upon his own very idiosyncratic art aesthtic. with which he was obsessed!

[sentinel]

Originally Posted by apetrella802

I'll say one last time, all legal athorities have made clear that Barnes' will stipulated that if ANY circumstance made it untenable for the collection to stay at that location, e.g, financial(too little income from current location) it could move to Philadelphia or one of its suburbs. It did say that the display of the art work in a new location must remain the same as that in the current location. This was what was most important to Barnes since the way in which he displayed the paintings was based upon his own very idiosyncratic art aesthtic. with which he was obsessed!

That was discussed in the film quite clearly, but the question became whether or not the Barnes' financial situation happened because of mismanagement or whether it was willed into being (pun-intended) by the 'pro-moving' contingent. But you're absolutely right, Barnes display methodology was very idiosyncratic, but considering it was his personal collection, to each their own I guess.

[Don098]

Two Thumbs Up!

[brightguy]

We just got the exterior facade lights turned on last night to start working out bugs and getting the programming done. But it took less than 24 hours to have a photo and video captured and posted here. People move fast on this blog!

It will look better once we aim the lights along the top brow. Plus all the lights need to be addressed & programmed after some bugs are worked out.

[blorkishdork]

I grew up in the same town (about 2 miles) as the barnes, the people who lived right next to it bitched and complained about parking and noise etc. The residents really were a nuisance to the museum who were trying to stay afloat by allowing more people to come view it and extend hours among. However the second the barnes talked about moving all those same residents jumped up and screemed NOOOOOOOOOO not our property values!!!!!!!!!!! So the residents took the museum for granted and wanted the luxury of living near one of the best art collections in the world but didn't want to deal with their issues. (I Will say this was not all residents but the few were very vocal and influential).

So I really do not blame the Barnes for moving, I would have loved if they could stay but I completely understand why, and for the foundation it makes the most financial sense and more people will be able to view the collection now that it will be moved on the parkway. Even if a deal was worked out that the museum would stay, I firmly believe that things would go right back to the way things were after 5-10 years.

[phillyaggie]

wow! red brick, staid Philly, actually putting on a pretty cool multi-color LED light show. Nice!

Of course, I shouldn't forget that Cira Centre does an awesome job of lighting its facade.

VZ, great vid capture... thanks for posting this!

[wanderer34]

All the projects are nice. So far, so good!!!!! I still believe that the Int'l House should be just as tall as the one on UC, and 1700 Broad St should be the site of a mid-rise in the range of 400-500 ft. Similar to how the Tower of Learning in Pittsburgh is for Pitt: an iconic monument!!!!! I was hoping Temple was going to be doing something similar in it's campus, which would really do wonders for Templetown and vicinity.

Also, the infill projects look nice. Hopefully, in another five years, there will be no empty lots and the area can start to look nice again. I would also love to see mid rise apartment and co-op buildings, similar to what's going on w/ UC, just for a little residential variety. And where is the new stadium supposed to be at?????

[Parkway]

As far as iconic buildings go, Temple is planning a 500+ foot administrative office building at what would be Broad and Berks. The stadium on the other hand is still a pipe dream at this point with no major press releases, the alumni association is running that show.

[pwp]

Originally Posted by Parkway

Temple is planning a 500+ foot administrative office building at what would be Broad and Berks.

Really? That's awesome. Any additional info you can give?