PHILADELPHIA | Penn Medicine South Tower | 302 FT | 19 FLOORS

[Philly Fan]

Originally Posted by wally

You need good leadership with a desire for and commitment to good architecture. Amy's comment's show that she doesn't fit the bill there. Thankfully, Penn has some other leaders who do. The most prominent of these is the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences Dean, Eduardo Glandt. He was integral in selecting KieranTimberlake, Tod Williams and Billie Tsien, and most recently, Weiss/Manfredi to design buildings for the school.

Weiss/Manfredi's Center for Nanotechnology is a real gem.

Heartily agree about the Singh Center for Nanotechnology. Walked through it this past weekend, and it's a gem inside and out.

And in fairness to Amy, I assume that she was more taken with the promise of a design by big-name Vinoly, rather than the actual design, itself. And truthfully, I think that the original design of the Perelman Center actually could have been quite striking if it had been properly executed, without what appears to be the haphazard addition of appendages of rather mediocre design, i.e., the Smilow Center and the South Tower currently under construction. It started as a rather elegant, streamlined design, but is now beginning to look like a disjointed collection of random structures, in my opinion. Perhaps if they eventually add a tower to mirror the Smilow Center on the opposite side (and to replace the current Penn Tower), some balance and elegance could be restored to the overall design. Maybe (and hopefully) that's the long-term plan.

[wally]

Originally Posted by Philly Fan

Heartily agree about the Singh Center for Nanotechnology. Walked through it this past weekend, and it's a gem inside and out.

And in fairness to Amy, I assume that she was more taken with the promise of a design by big-name Vinoly, rather than the actual design, itself. And truthfully, I think that the original design of the Perelman Center actually could have been quite striking if it had been properly executed, without what appears to be the haphazard addition of appendages of rather mediocre design, i.e., the Smilow Center and the South Tower currently under construction. It started as a rather elegant, streamlined design, but is now beginning to look like a disjointed collection of random structures, in my opinion. Perhaps if they eventually add a tower to mirror the Smilow Center on the opposite side (and to replace the current Penn Tower), some balance and elegance could be restored to the overall design. Maybe (and hopefully) that's the long-term plan.

True. What's she supposed to say in that situation? "This design kind of stinks."

Vinoly has always seemed a bit overrated to me. I would have expected, though, that the additions would have followed a cohesive design strategy since he has been the architect from the beginning (though i realize that he himself has probably had little to do with the design).

I really don't get the rough-beige-strips-against-sleek-white-panels thing. It's just ugly. But maybe that's the design strategy??

[Philly Fan]

Originally Posted by wally

True. What's she supposed to say in that situation? "This design kind of stinks."

Vinoly has always seemed a bit overrated to me. I would have expected, though, that the additions would have followed a cohesive design strategy since he has been the architect from the beginning (though i realize that he himself has probably had little to do with the design).

I really don't get the rough-beige-strips-against-sleek-white-panels thing. It's just ugly. But maybe that's the design strategy??

Come to think of it, I've never seen a rendering of this new tower (other than on the sign at the site). Has anyone else here? Seems like they just said, "well lets add a few more floors on the back." Never mind that this is the facade that will be most visible from Center City and the Schuylkill Expressway. But hopefully, the end product will prove me wrong.

On other hand, as I said earlier, even the front of it now looks to me like a bit of a jumbled mess:

[christof]

Originally Posted by Philly Fan

Come to think of it, I've never seen a rendering of this new tower (other than on the sign at the site). Has anyone else here? Seems like they just said, "well lets add a few more floors on the back." Never mind that this is the facade that will be most visible from Center City and the Schuylkill Expressway. But hopefully, the end product will prove me wrong.

On other hand, as I said earlier, even the front of it now looks to me like a bit of a jumbled mess:

If you add a second Smilow Tower on the left hand side of the building, it wouldn't look half bad...

[wally]

Originally Posted by christof

If you add a second Smilow Tower on the left hand side of the building, it wouldn't look half bad...

Nope. It would look all bad.

All kidding aside though, I agree. Given its central atrium with two wings, the building does beg to be symmetrically balanced by having another tower tall tower opposite the Smilow Tower, and I do think that this is the plan

[Philly Fan]

Originally Posted by wally

Nope. It would look all bad.

All kidding aside though, I agree. Given its central atrium with two wings, the building does beg to be symmetrically balanced by having another tower tall tower opposite the Smilow Tower, and I do think that this is the plan

I've felt that way from the beginning, or else the design really makes no sense (and would be a real waste of what I'm sure were some pretty hefty architecture fees). However, I've never seen any renderings, or even basic massing studies, that depict a second connected tower opposite the Smilow Center. But there have been rumors of the Penn Tower eventually being torn down and replaced, so hopefully that will be with a "Smilow 2" (or whatever it ends up being called).

[wally]

Originally Posted by Philly Fan

I've felt that way from the beginning, or else the design really makes no sense (and would be a real waste of what I'm sure were some pretty hefty architecture fees). However, I've never seen any renderings, or even basic massing studies, that depict a second connected tower opposite the Smilow Center. But there have been rumors of the Penn Tower eventually being torn down and replaced, so hopefully that will be with a "Smilow 2" (or whatever it ends up being called).

I know that I've seen some massings showing exactly this. The closest rendering that I could find just now is this:



You'll see that Penn Tower is no more, replaced by a new tower appended to the existing Center for Advanced Medicine. You'll also see that new road would be constructed between the museum and the PCAM complex.

[Philly Fan]

Originally Posted by wally

You'll see that Penn Tower is no more, replaced by a new tower appended to the existing Center for Advanced Medicine. You'll also see that new road would be constructed between the museum and the PCAM complex.

That'll work. Plus, it would frame that part of the museum quite nicely, and highlight the new entrance they had been planning (and hopefully still are) on 33rd Street.

[shadowbat2]

Taken today:

[summersm343]

[summersm343]

http://www.facilities.upenn.edu/maps...ucation-center

Looks like this is officially called the Henry A. Jordan Medical Center

[Philly Fan]

Originally Posted by summersm343

http://www.facilities.upenn.edu/maps...ucation-center

Looks like this is officially called the Henry A. Jordan Medical Center

Henry A. Jordan Medical EDUCATION Center.

It will be a cutting-edge clinical training facility for Penn medical students:

http://www.med.upenn.edu/pulse/junjul2013.shtml#story2

[summersm343]

Can sort of see it from Civic Center Blvd or whatever the F**k this street is called

[shadowbat2]

[Londonee]

IS the portion presently under construction an add-on? Or was it always planned?

This complex with Smilow Research just appears to be a jumbled mess--both in scale and materials. The stucco-brown coloured cladding looks like something out of an 80s suburban-office nightmare.

With the amount of money they are spending, there had to have been a far more elegant solution for this complex.

[Philly Fan]

Originally Posted by Londonee

IS the portion presently under construction an add-on? Or was it always planned?

This complex with Smilow Research just appears to be a jumbled mess--both in scale and materials. The stucco-brown coloured cladding looks like something out of an 80s suburban-office nightmare.

With the amount of money they are spending, there had to have been a far more elegant solution for this complex.

My hope is that a twin to the Smilow tower will be added to the opposite side after the demolition of Penn Tower in the next couple of years, providing some cohesiveness and balance to the overall design. If Penn doesn't attend to the aesthetics of this complex, it will end up looking awful shabby in comparison to the stunning architecture CHOP is constructing next door.

[Londonee]

Originally Posted by Philly Fan

My hope is that a twin to the Smilow tower will be added to the opposite side after the demolition of Penn Tower in the next couple of years, providing some cohesiveness and balance to the overall design. If Penn doesn't attend to the aesthetics of this complex, it will end up looking awful shabby in comparison to the stunning architecture CHOP is constructing next door.

Haha, I guess that will make it look better? Smilow is a disaster of a building, so doubling down architecturally on its twin in order to save the massing and scaling of the overall complex seems to be a rather dubious solution?

[Philly Fan]

Originally Posted by Londonee

Haha, I guess that will make it look better? Smilow is a disaster of a building, so doubling down architecturally on its twin in order to save the massing and scaling of the overall complex seems to be a rather dubious solution?

Better than leaving it as is, looking like it hasn't been finished (in my opinion):




As Einstein taught us, it's all relative.

[McBane]

Wow that is embarrassingly bad. Not even like Homes2Suites bad (cheap materials) or Symphony House bad (poor color scheme). The entire design is just awful. Could you imagine the architect using that image on their website as an example of their work?!

[Philly Fan]

Originally Posted by McBane

Could you imagine the architect using that image on their website as an example of their work?!

You don't have to imagine:

http://www.rvapc.com/works/845-unive...ional-research