PHILADELPHIA | Lowrise/General Developments Thread

[Redddog]

Originally Posted by iheartphilly

True...this is the case in Old City on the smaller sections of the city grid where they do underground work and restore the cobblestone work when the utility work is completed. On main roads in the city grid, not sure cobblestone is the best for ride comforted or plowing on snow days, let alone any speed above 25 mphs.

Fun fact....

The cobblestones are actually ship weights used for balancing payloads on Colonial boats coming from England. It was Ben Franklin's idea to use them for roads.

[iheartphilly]

^
That is a neat fun fact!

Modern-day fun fact: The lead from small containers to shield nuclear pharmaceuticals (medicine) in transports on road deliveries are used by some modern small boat builders to also balance the boats they build.

[summersm343]

UPenn Data Science Building - 34th & Chestnut - 6 FLOORS









https://www.facilities.upenn.edu/map...ience-building

[Skintreesnail]

Is that supposed to be at 34th and chestnut?
https://maps.app.goo.gl/uxnACWBH7Ya6URv48

Also, is that CLT used for the skeleton? Can't really tell.

[Philly Fan]

Originally Posted by Skintreesnail

Is that supposed to be at 34th and chestnut?

Yep, 34th and Chestnut.

[Busy Bee]

Does anyone know what the plan is for the coal yard / Lehigh Ave viaduct?

[Busy Bee]

...

[Busy Bee]

Originally Posted by iheartphilly

True...this is the case in Old City on the smaller sections of the city grid where they do underground work and restore the cobblestone work when the utility work is completed. On main roads in the city grid, not sure cobblestone is the best for ride comforted or plowing on snow days, let alone any speed above 25 mphs.

No, probably not on the majority of arterials, but I'd love to see a city program to return as many brick paved/cobbled residential streets as possible.

[Skintreesnail]

I like that idea, make it annoying to drive in places we really don't want tons of traffic, like old city or around Rittenhouse square. I wish more of the small streets and alley streets had cobbles.

[Jayfar]

Originally Posted by Redddog

Fun fact....

The cobblestones are actually ship weights used for balancing payloads on Colonial boats coming from England. It was Ben Franklin's idea to use them for roads.

…and by fun fact, you mean popular myth:

Revisited Myth # 54: Many houses and roads in America were built with bricks and stones carried here as ballast in the holds of ships.

Also see:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sett_(paving)

[summersm343]

Originally Posted by Skintreesnail

Is that supposed to be at 34th and chestnut?
https://maps.app.goo.gl/uxnACWBH7Ya6URv48

Also, is that CLT used for the skeleton? Can't really tell.

Yes, sorry, 34th and Chestnut.

[Londonee]

Originally Posted by cardeza

a properly done patch will not lead to a pothole. A pothole is caused when water gets into cracks in pavement. Utility work can happen for a lot of reasons and much of it is unplanned- you will never be able to guarantee a recently paved street isnt opened up for a utility repair.

There's a difference between a "pothole" and what happens when the Water Department comes in and digs a massive trench the entire length of the block to replace water pipes into newly paved asphalt. Within a few months where the trench was poured is expanding, shrinking, absorbing moisture at a different rate/scale than the original pour next to it. This quickly creates a terribly uneven road surface that will soon begin to fail.

Also beyond "potholes" - what happened on my block was Streets came in and paved, re-striped, re-painted all of the crosswalks and bikelanes beautifully. Then, 2 weeks later - the ADA boys showed up and re-cut all of the curbs and drains to install the ADA pads. The Result? All of the crosswalks were patched over with new asphalt and at every intersection the bikelanes were covered up. Just looks sloppy and patchy. I asked the contractor if they'd touch up the janky crosswalks/bikelane lines. "Absolutely," he said. lol

[TonyTone]

Originally Posted by Londonee

There's a difference between a "pothole" and what happens when the Water Department comes in and digs a massive trench the entire length of the block to replace water pipes into newly paved asphalt. Within a few months where the trench was poured is expanding, shrinking, absorbing moisture at a different rate/scale than the original pour next to it. This quickly creates a terribly uneven road surface that will soon begin to fail.

Also beyond "potholes" - what happened on my block was Streets came in and paved, re-striped, re-painted all of the crosswalks and bikelanes beautifully. Then, 2 weeks later - the ADA boys showed up and re-cut all of the curbs and drains to install the ADA pads. The Result? All of the crosswalks were patched over with new asphalt and at every intersection the bikelanes were covered up. Just looks sloppy and patchy. I asked the contractor if they'd touch up the janky crosswalks/bikelane lines. "Absolutely," he said. lol

And this is the ISSUE RIGHT HERE.

Why the Hell couldn't the ADA Boys come 2 weeks before and get it done before the paving?

It's like when streets are repaved and restriped someone say hey did x block just get repaved and looks good? Ok good send out the boys to dig up the corners and fix it we could have did it before they came but its better after.

No coordination at all in this city.

It's like putting a skyscraper up first and getting to the 50th floor and then going back down into the basement and connecting the water pipes and sewage lines.

[Redddog]

Originally Posted by Jayfar

…and by fun fact, you mean popular myth:

Revisited Myth # 54: Many houses and roads in America were built with bricks and stones carried here as ballast in the holds of ships.

Also see:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sett_(paving)

Son of a....!!!


Actually, the guy (a historian) who commented below that myth said this.....

".....Philadelphia began paving some streets (ostensibly at Mr. Franklin’s suggestion) in the 1760’s."

[PurpleWhiteOut]

Originally Posted by summersm343

UPenn Data Science Building - 34th & Chestnut - 6 FLOORS









https://www.facilities.upenn.edu/map...ience-building

I'm interested in how they're going to get that glass effect. Like if it's etched or just a design applied to it. Maybe to make it bird-safe? Whatever it is will add a lot of interest over a regular glass box though. I like it. The diagonal column design across the front looks great too.

[Skintreesnail]

looks like Penn has some renderings on their site of the interior and based on these it does look like CLT, which I'm not sure if it would be the first such building in Philly or not:







another exterior:



https://www.facilities.upenn.edu/map...ience-building

[Vince_]

That Penn building looks great. Go on the Google streetview from 2007 at 33rd and Chestnut and the transformation is crazy. There's the 2 Drexel buildings, the Study hotel, Penn Lauder College House and now this project a little further down Chestnut.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/34...!4d-75.1921404

[Skintreesnail]

yeah, I like it too. Just look at how happy those nerds look! I like the guy in the last picture on the bench who's obviously having a discussion with himself.

[Philly Fan]

Originally Posted by PurpleWhiteOut

I'm interested in how they're going to get that glass effect. Like if it's etched or just a design applied to it. Maybe to make it bird-safe?

My guess is that it's supposed to suggest a printed circuit board, as an architectural reference to the building's role as a data science center:




Penn did something similar when it built the Levin Neural and Behavioral Sciences Building a few years ago, with an architectural screen suggesting a network of neurons:

[Skintreesnail]

Could be something like a plot that would be generated by some machine learning algorithm or some other data visualization