The design could be better but folks please stop complaining. The Delaware Waterfront is at least 20 years behind the rest of the city in terms of development and so I don't think we can afford to be so selective. Frankly, I don't see any other developments on the waterfront that is as good as this one: Sugarhouse is set back from the street behind a huge driveway; Waterfront Square ditto, plus it's gated; all the townhouses have their backs against the street; and the shopping centers are totally auto-centric.
Right now, there should be only three criteria that determine the success of projects on Delaware Ave:
1) It must meet the street and not be set back behind a driveway, gate, parking lot, etc.
2) It must have some sort of active ground floor: at the very least the main entrance and no blank walls; retail is a plus
3) It must have density to create the necessary critical mass to attract more projects and retail
This project checks all those boxes. When we get another 10 projects like this along Columbus Blvd, we can start talking about materials, design, etc. On the flipside, if someone tried proposing this for Center City proper, I'd be right with the other detractors. Here though, it's fine.
[QUOTE=McBane;7157909]The design could be better but folks please stop complaining. The Delaware Waterfront is at least 20 years behind the rest of the city in terms of development and so I don't think we can afford to be so selective.
Yeah, I came off pretty harsh about the revised rendering. The "actual" façade doesn't look as bad as the rendering. It's usually the other way around. Delaware Ave./Columbus Blvd. has had so many proposals that were way cool, and what we ended up with is just meh. The tallest one was Bridgeman's Tower at over 900 ft tall. and the preliminary renderings looked super! AND, what did we wind up with? Hello?? Is anyone there?? Then you had Philadelphia's World Trade Center, 2 skyscrapers over 630 ft each, and on and on, and on. The one that looks very cool is "The Bridge" at 2nd & Race. HOPEFULLY, that comes out looking like the rendering!
Great stuff. I have a technical question: Why don't I see this thread listed here: http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/tags.php?tag=philadelphia? It has me worried that I'm missing other stuff. I don't see the new tax policy thread listed either.
Seeing it in person, I kind of think the black panels should have been corrugated (made of, say, galvanized iron?). The façade's very flat right now; something like that would've made it pop a bit.
Seeing it in person, I kind of think the black panels should have been corrugated (made of, say, galvanized iron?). The façade's very flat right now; something like that would've made it pop a bit.
Yea. I gotta say this looks pretty bad. Really cheap looking. 1919 Market really surprised me with the facade which is a much higher quality than I expected and really looks good. This is the opposite, much worse than I anticipated. Here's hoping it somehow looks better when complete.
Oh no.
Just seeing this shot of One Water St. made me a little more cautious of a positive comment. Somehow I (now) think that having a "very low-rise" located in this location may have looked better. Or just the opposite, something VERY slender and MUCH taller. It's just at this height and girth it seems to block out much of the Philadelphia skyline at certain points. And the façade being just "ok" or "Meh", well I may be premature in making a decision if this will really be a "positive". Somehow or other even the Bridge may have looked better without an intruding neighbor.
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