PHILADELPHIA | Lowrise/General Developments Thread

[lsksl]

Yeah. I'm all in for modern stuff and not just the typical parisian (or wherever they come from) street lamps. BUT these are simply not inviting. Huge metal poles? Really? Maybe at night they will be tolerable because they won't be JUST metal poles (though still not pretty), but during the day they are plain ugly because they're so tall and linear.

With that kind of money they could have been more inventive and done something prettier and more interesting.
Not everything's bad for N Broad though, with so many projects on the move. It was about time, with Fairmount being so gentrified, which contrasts with its section of N Broad still being so... not gentrified.

[1487]

Originally Posted by EastSideHBG

I'm not a fan of this at all and think there are better ways to spend $8.7 million. I would have rather seen nice landscaping and short trees or something, then add lights somewhere in the mix; these remind me of telephone polls going down the street. Even if they end up looking cool at night they are still odd looking during the day.

The project includes some sidewalk replacement and landscaping. This hasn't really been reported much in the media.

[1487]

This is what the lender on the DL is saying about the Broad Street lighting project. Quite a different take vs the pessimism/criticism on here....

http://www.phillymag.com/property/20...apal-blessing/

[Busy Bee]

Their praise seems a little hyperbolic. You'd think they were harnessing alien technology.

[Knight Hospitaller]

Originally Posted by Busy Bee

Their praise seems a little hyperbolic. You'd think they were harnessing alien technology.

Sorta looks that way. These remind me of tall, cylindrical versions of the monolith in "2001: A Space Odyssey."

[Teakwood]

http://www.phillymag.com/property/20...t/#gallery-2-2

Nothing screams streetscape improvement like a 55 foot flagpole blocking the view of City Hall.

[cafeguy]

Originally Posted by Teakwood

http://www.phillymag.com/property/20...t/#gallery-2-2

Nothing screams streetscape improvement like a 55 foot flagpole blocking the view of City Hall.

Ive been a huge supporter of these posts, but without varying color or synchronized lighting up and down the streets, they do nothing. I walked past them today and they just look like incomplete structures that are there waiting to be used for an unfinished project...like, maybe a north broad gondola or something. Now THAT is an idea. And if we consider all the past work philly generally does.... each pole will be surrounded by orange traffic cans for the foreseeable future.

[1487]

Seeing as though they are lights, they probably look better at night....

[Teakwood]

Originally Posted by 1487

Seeing as though they are lights, they probably look better at night....

True, I don't think anyone is arguing that. Do you like the way they look during the day? Quality design should warrant that they at least be acceptable in appearance during the day, since that is at least half of the time. To me, these are a huge distraction during daylight hours. I'd sacrifice whatever better than average appearance they have at night for something that is overall less conspicuous during the day.

Overall, this board tends to agree that things are an improvement when they are an improvement at a pedestrian scale. Nothing about these seems to indicate an improvement, at least during the day, in that manner. They look like a new take on highway lights, and look to further create a visual separation down the middle of Broad, that serves to kill the pedestrian experience, and further make Broad more auto-centric.

[MikeNigh]

Originally Posted by Teakwood

Nothing screams streetscape improvement like a 55 foot flagpole blocking the view of City Hall.

It shouldn't block the view for most people walking on the side walk or driving.

[Busy Bee]

Originally Posted by Teakwood

...They look like a new take on highway lights, and look to further create a visual separation down the middle of Broad, that serves to kill the pedestrian experience, and further make Broad more auto-centric.

Yes to this 100%

They come across exactly this way. There's a fine line between light masts that are grand in scale but still pedestrian oriented and ones that appear to be designed for highways. I know it was not intended but these look like large highway flood lights without the lamp cluster. I'm a modern leaning guy (but also love historicist streetscaping in certain contexts) but these seem like a mistake - one that will not age well at all.

[McBane]

However cool those lights will look like at night can in no way negate how ugly they look during the day. A waste of $9m for sure.

[Knight Hospitaller]

Originally Posted by McBane

However cool those lights will look like at night can in no way negate how ugly they look during the day. A waste of $9m for sure.

Somebody call Jony Ive! Presenting, the Apple Pole....

[Williard Mouse]

Each year, the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire brings thousands of tourists to the tiny town of Mount Hope, Pa. Nutter may be attempting to cash in on it's success by hosting a Philadelphia May Pole Faire.

[cjPhilly]

Originally Posted by Teakwood

http://www.phillymag.com/property/20...t/#gallery-2-2

This picture really cements it for me. Driving/walking down North Broad was always one of my favorite experiences in the city with the terminating view of City Hall tower. But now to have this stupid poles mucking up that view, well I think it is a travesty.

Just wait a few years until the harsh city environment takes its toll on these things and parts and pieces start to lose their shine, etc.

[domodeez]

I've seen these new N. Broad lights multiple times in daytime and at night. I'm not one to dump on stuff just for the sake of dumping on stuff, but these are terrible. Others above have already outlined the reasons why, but for anyone wondering "well, maybe they look better in person," just know that they don't.

I'm afraid these belong in the same category as the Penn's Landing "Pi" monolith.

[relnahe]

Reading these comments are amazing. No accounting for taste I guess but this type of lighting is revolutionary. Hopefully Philadelphia will continue leading the way for innovation.

[jsbrook]

Originally Posted by relnahe

Reading these comments are amazing. No accounting for taste I guess but this type of lighting is revolutionary. Hopefully Philadelphia will continue leading the way for innovation.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but it seems you are in the minority on this, my friend. Revolutionary does not always mean positive. Or attractive or aesthetic. I pray they don't expand to South Broad/Avenue of the Arts. I doubt they will. It wouldn't be tolerated.

[1487]

Im not understanding all the hand wringing. North broad will survive the lights. This isn't going to halt development or bring down the areas that are already trending up folks. I'm not sure what type of lights people would prefer, but obviously the exterior materials had to be somewhat robust to survive out in the elements for years. What type of materials would people prefer? They look industrial which is what they should look like considering they are lining a major street that runs through some very old Philly neighborhoods- many of which still have hulking factory buildings standing. They are much more modern than the faux antique light poles they have on south broad.

[br323206]

Don't they also only go as far south as Callowhill? Or somewhere near there? In that respect, they don't really muck up the North Broad view of City Hall from anywhere in Center City.