Investigating Philadelphia as center of deindustrialization and accelerated urbanism, “Off-grid: Industrial Ghost” seeks to implement the theories of Adaptive Reuse to revitalize the once booming city of Philadelphia.
Having been the center of the nation’s industrial production, from the 1880’s to the 1920s, Philadelphia’s architectural landscape is riddled with abandoned industrial factories and buildings.
Throughout the semester the studio revolved around two central design interventions: re-institutionalizing the abandoned rail-way park “The Cut”, renovating of the old grain elevator “The Granary”.
Rail-way Park : The Cut
“The Cut” is an abandoned rail-way revitalized into an all-inclusive park that constitutes a garden, cafe and exhibition hall.
The intrusion of 6 independent passageways to the park manipulates the population flow into unconventional directions, of which disrupts the strictness of urban grid circulation. Such intervention is designed to lead the participants directly toward desired programs as it purposely redirects the circulation pattern.
Grain Elevator : The Granary
The old grain elevator is re-designed to not only satisfy the needs of the city, but also custom tailored to suit its inhabitants. The silos was not visible according to the old structure. Thus, the intervention of the silos is the most pivotal design feature of the Granary renovation as the alteration repurposes the existing into a co-living/working space.
Applying the concept of adaptive reuse, the structure is extended, exaggerating the use of the silos. The intervention brings in the conversation of visual qualities and signifies the structural importance of the silos. Each inserted block aims to defy the originally secluded circulation that led to only one destination. It, in turn, pursues the goal of shared experience within the building.
