Lofty Aspirations

Architects envision more than condos when they look at Philly's industrial bones.

by Andrew Thompson

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Published: Feb 2, 2010

Jessica Kourkounis CITY OF INDUSTRY: Beth Miller, executive director of the Community Design Collaborative, helped organize the "Retooling Industrial Sites" exhibit.

[ exhibit/think tank ]

During the housing boom, there was an informal creed adopted by many urban developers: When in doubt about what to do with a former industrial building, turn it into loft apartments. Philadelphians could spend their post-industrial lives at the soap factory, the umbrella factory or the chocolate factory.

But where many developers once saw an opportunity to cram as many high-paying tenants into a building as possible, others are beginning to see potential anchors of communities — just what those industrial buildings were in the first place.

The Philadelphia Center for Architecture's upcoming exhibit, "Retooling Industrial Sites," reveals this new creed borne out. Former manufacturing hubs are being transformed into schools, community centers, mixed-use projects and, sometimes, even new manufacturing facilities. The exhibit will showcase design and architectural firms' blueprints and models for 50 completed or in-the-works projects. Visitors can view the visual planning process behind the Crane Arts Building on American Street, for example, and find out exactly what's in store for the Amtrak's Philadelphia rail yards.

Beth Miller, executive director of the Community Design Collaborative, which organized the show, hopes it will inspire more firms to adopt this new way of thinking.

"Barbara Kaplan," former executive director of the Philadelphia City Planning Commission, "used to say, 'Water, water everywhere but not a drop to drink,'" says Miller. "We have all this industrial heritage, but they're all white elephants and brownfields. What we have seen when it was still boom times was the conversion to lots of lofts. And I think there's a lot of pushback to say not all industrial sites can be used for residential."

Ed Klimek, a partner at design firm KSS Architects, agrees. "This should not become a dense suburbia," he says. Klimek oversaw a plan that retooled the site of a former pharmaceutical factory in Newark into a new type of manufacturing facility — one that finishes and distributes products that are mainly produced elsewhere.

In Klimek's project, the old building was actually torn down because it was "heavily contaminated and didn't meet the requirements of modern industry," he says.

But this exhibit, after all, is about modifying industrial areas, not just buildings. "Tearing down the building and using the industrial site is still a good thing to do because all the infrastructure to deal with industry is still there," he says. "The truck routes are still there, the roadways are still there, the utilities are still there. So even though we took down the building, we preserved the backbone of the industry."

If manufacturing is making a comeback in Newark, then what are the prospects for the same thing happening in Philly?

Not bad, believe it or not. "[Pennsylvania] has a much more conducive tax structure," says Klimek.

(andrew.thompson@citypaper.net)

Opening reception Fri., Feb. 5, 5:30-7:30 p.m., free, through March 26, Philadelphia Center for Architecture, 1218 Arch St., 215-569-3186, philadelphiacfa.org.

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