— unpredictable thoughts

Pa. Con­ven­tion Cen­ter Approval Revoked
It’s pretty clear that Penn­syl­va­nia offi­cials didn’t bar­gain on a pub­lic fuss when they decided uni­lat­er­ally to tear down the two pro­tected Broad Street build­ings that were sup­posed to be part of the expanded Penn­syl­va­nia Con­ven­tion Cen­ter. Nor, I sus­pect, did they expect any trou­ble from one of Philadelphia’s more obscure agen­cies, The Philadel­phia Art Commission.But now the project’s archi­tects have some explain­ing to do.The art com­mis­sion wants to see the revised design for the facade — sans the Philadel­phia Life Insur­ance Co. head­quar­ters — before it will allow the $700 mil­lion mega-project to receive a build­ing per­mit. That’s sort like hav­ing your dam project derailed by a snail darter.

Sky­line Online

Hip hip!

This project gives me the creeps. I’m not for the expan­sion of the con­ven­tion cen­ter. How­ever, if it has to hap­pen why can’t we keep some kind of street level design that doesn’t feel like a park­ing garage. This is like those mys­te­ri­ous fires that enable devel­op­ers to move for­ward with projects.

Thanks to Inga Saf­fron for the update. Check out Sky­line Online using the link above. See pic­tures of the demo­li­tion and more about the his­toric piece of Philadel­phia lost.

Thank you to the Philadel­phia Art Commission!

Oh, btw can some­one remind me why we are expand­ing the con­ven­tion center?

Blogged with Flock

Tags: philadel­phia, con­ven­tion cen­ter, archi­tec­ture, design,