TYPE: Residential
STATUS: Built
The site for these tucked-away rowhomes is a flag lot accessible from a rear alley in a dense residential neighborhood. These 5 units are flipped front to back, with the formal entrances facing the rear of the adjacent block and accessed via a narrow permeable-paved walkway. The massing at the fronts of the units varies and shifts, and the stacked and recessed volumes evoke the organic and varied pattern of small residential rear additions typically seen in rowhome neighborhoods. Programmatically, the units reverse the typical rowhome layout, but volumetrically respect the massing of the nearby existing housing.
YEAR: 2018
AIA Pennsylvania 2021 Architectural Excellence | Design Award Finalist
AIA Pennsylvania 2022 Architectural Excellence | Honor Award
TYPE: Commercial
STATUS: Built
Hotel by the El
Tranquility + mass transit achieve an unlikely partnership at this hotel project which is situated within feet of an elevated rail line. Lokal Fishtown uses thoughtful design to optimize its presence as a destination hotel in a highly walkable local neighborhood. Private, efficient, and flexible internal spaces are highlighted while simultaneously celebrating downtown skyline views from large windows. The practical challenges of a complicated and densely-layered urban site are overshadowed by the possibilities and connectivity of a car-free hotel blocks away from a rail station. Dark brick, board-formed concrete, and copper siding are employed as exterior materials which embody a weathered timelessness even at initial installation.
YEAR: 2017
AIA Philadelphia Merit Award 2020
TYPE: Residential
STATUS: Complete
The Arrowhead A-Frame was designed for a Philadelphia family who wished to optimize its unusual lot geometry: side property lines perpendicular to the waterfront taper slightly inward. In minimizing required setbacks and maximizing buildable area, a unique form was generated that deviates from the typical orthogonal A-Frame footprint. As converging roof planes meet, the ridge drops from front to back, adding additional drama to the upper-level spaces and the termination at the window wall. Exaggerated rake overhangs provide additional shading and weather protection at the front and rear entries and frame views of a large lakeside deck and seating area below. The Arrowhead A-Frame takes some of its design cues from Philadelphia’s rowhome typology: an efficient circulation stack located along the side opens up the floor plan and pierces the roof plane, creating an upper-level outdoor terrace above. Sleeping areas, baths, and an eat-in kitchen are tucked into a tight programmatic core that allows for maximum height and views for the living area facing the double-height lakeside window wall. A 2nd floor ship ladder that mimics the pitch of the roof plane leads to a bonus balcony room at the upper loft level.
TYPE: Custom Single-Family Residence
STATUS: Complete
TYPE: Residential
STATUS: Construction
The front of these 4 Fishtown townhouses uses a diagonal zig-zag design move to mimic the geometry of a corner lot and increase the effective façade area, allowing for extra daylighting opportunities and for capturing direct sun at different times of the day. This sawtooth pattern at the primary façade results in an angled interior space in the front that functions as a triple-height atrium and stairwell and allows daylight to penetrate deep into the core of these long and narrow townhouses. This vertical space oriented to the South of the site functions as an interior privacy buffer and serves as a visual organizational tool to connect the common spaces with the circulation. The full height atrium is interrupted only by diagonal landings that communicate with large skyline-facing picture windows and is capped by a large circular skylight above. A cozy 2nd floor home office and a dramatic 3rd floor primary bath overlook the entry foyer below.
TYPE: Mixed-Use
STATUS: Built
SHIFTED sits on a tiny L-shaped leftover lot, just 867 SF tucked between corner parcels on adjacent streets. As industrial and larger commercial uses have vacated the Fishtown neighborhood in recent years, smaller multi-family housing and nimble micro-businesses have taken their place. SHIFTED uses a series of stacked and displaced volumes to accommodate cozy residential dwelling units above a street-level apothecary. Despite the small footprint and modest construction budget, each unit benefits from its own private outdoor terrace with views along the avenue and an abundance of natural light from oversized windows.
YEAR: 2018
AIA Philadelphia Merit Award 2019
AIA Pennsylvania Merit Award 2020
TYPE: Residential
STATUS: Built
HOUSE A is a reconfiguration of the classic 3-story Philadelphia rowhome. One of the challenges of the typical long and narrow rowhome lot is finding a way to bring natural light deep into the core. Instead of the standard staircase stack, which is typically located in the center of the house (and often adjacent to poorly lit corridors), HOUSE A unexpectedly slides the stairwell to the front wall. Carefully positioned windows communicate with stair landings to frame views and create a visually complex and fully activated façade. Perforated steel risers allow daylight to filter through the stairwell and into the attached living spaces. Envisioned as an adaptable solution to multiple narrow infill lots (HOUSE A is only 15’ wide), this new typology has been further explored in other variations, in some cases with the stairwell flipped to the rear of the house, depending on site and solar angle.
YEAR: 2015
TYPE: Residential
STATUS: Built
HOUSE B is a reconfiguration of the classic 3-story Philadelphia rowhome. Nothing impacts the quality of interior spaces in a narrow building more than the circulation path, and by prioritizing quality daylighting and efficient design for this essential element, all connected spaces benefit as well. Entry into a standard rowhome typically consists of steps from the sidewalk up to a landing, and then through a door often leading directly into a living space. HOUSE B interrupts this entry sequence by inserting a split-level foyer accessed at sidewalk level, which serves as a buffer from street noise and creates visual privacy for the elevated living spaces beyond. Circulation to the upper levels is organized around a 2-story light well which serves as a spatial focal point from the interior, and as a dramatic transparent rear wall from the exterior.
YEAR: 2018
AIA Pennsylvania 2021 Architectural Excellence | Design Award Finalist
AIA Pennsylvania 2022 Architectural Excellence | Merit Award
TYPE: Mixed Use
STATUS: Planning
Street level commercial space is activated by walkable streets, and sustained by local residential density. Located immediately adjacent to an elevated rail line, and with a structural column only feet away from the property line, we found an opportunity to recess the ground floor wall and add to the public realm at sidewalk level. This increase in sidewalk width accommodates increased pedestrian traffic and allows for a well-lit and secure exterior gathering space. On the upper levels, a rotated floor plate capitalizes on downtown skyline views and daylighting opportunities for the 25 one-bedroom residential units.
AIA Pennsylvania 2022 Architectural Excellence | Design Award Finalist
TYPE: Mixed-use
STATUS: Planning
YEAR: 2024
TYPE: Public Space
STATUS: Planning
Located near the intersection of two popular residential neighborhoods, TIP TOP PLAYGROUND fell into disrepair even as new housing and increased commercial activity sprung up on all sides. We provided design services for a local friends group whose mission is to raise awareness of the playground’s potential. We assisted the group in guiding collaborative programming meetings with the local community and city representatives; this process was instrumental in gaining councilperson support and funding for the renewal of the playground.
Type: Mixed-use
Status: Planning
TYPE: Mixed-Use
STATUS: Built
Located on cobblestone-lined historic Trenton Ave. in the Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia, NYLON LOFTS is an adaptive reuse of a former garment manufacturing building. With varying floor levels and an irregular property shape, the original structure was not an obvious candidate for reuse as residential loft units. The solution was to remove and rebuild the front portion of the building, and then connect to the remaining rear portion to form a two-winged structure with a new central stair facing an original exterior masonry wall. The building features a marriage of old and new: brand new living spaces contrast with existing whitewashed brick, stained and polished columns and beams, and suspended hoist equipment. The reuse of a difficult and oddly configured structure resulted in one-of-a-kind details, and saved a historic building from the wrecking ball.
TYPE: Residential
STATUS: Built
The design of new housing units on short urban lots typically involves maximizing each floor plate to increase total square footage. However, this approach often leads to a lack of thoughtful and useful outdoor space. By recessing the 3rd floor front wall, we were able to create useful outdoor space that is unique and semi-enclosed and a perfect location for outdoor seating and gardening. The metal enclosures (PARTY CAGES) help to define a perceived 3rd story cornice line, act as a safety element for the spiral stairs up to the main roof, and add privacy and an ideal framework for future owner customization of landscaping and shading devices.
YEAR: 2018
TYPE: Residential
STATUS: Construction
TYPE: Residential
STATUS: Complete
TYPE: Mixed-Use
STATUS: Built
EL RAISER is a mixed-use building consisting of commercial space under 28 residential units along the Market-Frankford line in Philadelphia’s East Kensington neighborhood. Building along an active rail line creates constant challenges to control noise and vibration. In place of the ubiquitous oversized glazing typical of most new multifamily housing, EL RAISER uses a series of tiny high-performance windows to punctuate its sound-attenuating double-wall assemblies and create a nuanced and restrained play of light in the interior. 3-season exterior balconies are designed as upper level “foyers” to the outside; operable windows allow users to close off this exterior space and let it function as an additional sound buffer. An extensive green roof above offers additional sound and thermal insulation, improves local air quality, and adds a peaceful and sustainable building amenity high above the city streets.
YEAR: 2017
TYPE: 5-story Mixed-Use
STATUS: Construction
TYPE: Mixed-Use
STATUS: Construction
FRONT STREET STACKS rises 5 stories on a narrow 20’ wide lot immediately adjacent to an elevated rail line. The 7-unit mixed-use building utilizes the entirety of a street-to-street site, stretching from a busy commercial corridor to a quiet and narrow residential alley. Designed in section, this building is a series of stacked programmatic elements connected by intersecting circulation corridors that lead from a busy sidewalk up to private roof terraces that float above the rail line below.
TYPE: Residential
STATUS: Planning
Single-Family Skyscraper
Philadelphia is known for its narrow lots. Every inch of this 12’ wide property is utilized to provide a modern 2,000 SF 3-bed, 4-story townhouse layout. Vertical circulation is situated at the rear of the house, allowing for an open layout that allows penetration of daylight deep into the core and making efficient use of limited width.
YEAR: 2016
TYPE: Single-Family, Multiple Sites
STATUS: Planning
The design of buildings on complicated and crowded urban sites requires a commitment to efficiency and flexibility. Our most successful city projects have benefited from a creative response to specific constraints, but what happens when we can design without the usual imposed limitations of urban sites? The VACATION HOME series offers a new opportunity to rethink traditional vacation homes by employing our efficient and pragmatic design approach to sites in secluded settings. We’ve stripped down the remote vacation home to only the essential elements, which reduces both the initial cost of construction and overall energy consumption over the building’s lifespan. These vacation homes utilize energy-efficient wall assemblies with carefully located high-performance windows, and will be thoughtfully oriented to capitalize on passive daylighting and photovoltaic panel opportunities.
TYPE: Mixed-use
STATUS: In Construction
On the site of a former pallet storage facility, AVENUE V spatially organizes an irregular site by dividing it into two micro-blocks. The project consists of 4 commercial spaces and 147 dwelling units, with a gross square footage of 170,000 SF. The pedestrian experience is prioritized, with the majority of the open space being dedicated to shared courtyards that open outward and connect to the neighborhood at street level. Living units are arranged in carefully compacted medium-density housing blocks which are capped with commercial spaces at key intersections, creating a walkable and community-focused development.
Year: 2018
Type: Residential
Status: Built
TYPE: Residential
STATUS: Complete
TYPE: Residential
STATUS: Built
TYPE: Residential
STATUS: Complete
Type: Mixed-use
Status: Construction
TYPE: Residential
STATUS: Complete
