Friday, December 27, 2013 The plaza fronting the building is more of a landscaped entrance. Undefined Benefits Vague renderings show little that’s inviting about the public park offered to link the surrounding neighborhood with Children’s Hospital’s huge research center on the Schuylkill’s east bank. CHANGING SKYLINE | BY INGA SAFFRON evelopers use architectural render- circulation. There have been colorful collages to ings as a form of storytelling — suggest the landscaping planned for Schuylkill highlighting what they want us to Avenue and something that the hospital insists notice in their projects, obscuring on calling “the Spanish Steps.” what they don’t. Some buildings What they haven’t shared with the public is Dare shown standing alone in the world, while the actual architecture of the tower, or how hu- others appear as mere specks in a crowd. At man beings might interact with it at the ground night, the lights are always blazing, as if electric level. Given the project’s bills didn’t matter. sensitive location, between So it is with a plan by Children’s Hospital of the popular Schuylkill Banks Philadelphia for a high-rise research campus on park and Devil’s Pocket, the the east bank of the Schuylkill, next to the South absence of information is Philadelphia rowhouse neighborhood known as deeply troubling. the Devil’s Pocket. The massive undertaking Children’s executives have could ultimately house as much square foot- spent the last year meeting age as two Comcast towers. In June, Children’s INGA SAFFRON with neighbors to talk up the expects to break ground on a 375-foot tower, a "@IngaSaffron project, which is being de- free-standing garage, a public park, and a wa- signed by a big-name cast that terfront promenade, and yet we hardly know includes Pelli Clarke Pelli; what they will look like. Ballinger; and Cooper, Robertson & Partners. This is not for lack of renderings and plans. The hospital has been up front in acknowledg- In the 18 months since Children’s announced ing that its new skyscraper — where scientists it was establishing the satellite campus across will crunch data on computers—will be an from its home base in West Philadelphia, it has abrupt shift in scale from the adjacent rowhous- bombarded the community with images. es. As compensation, hospital officials have Those renderings have mainly shown views promised to enrich the neighborhood with wel- of the project from 30,000 feet. One illustrates coming parks and improved access to the river- how Children’s’ four towers would be arranged front. (They’re also giving the city an easement on the site. Another provides a diagram of traffic along the water’s edge for the next segment of – 5.1 – Children’s Hospital is promising greater access to the waterfront. Only the building on the left is part of the June groundbreaking. the Schuylkill Banks trail.) than a gray swath, but Children’s vice president But the public spaces depicted in the pictures Douglas E. Carney promises it will be a spectac- look anything but inviting. ular perch for enjoying views of the Schuylkill, Last week, the hospital finally released the “like an infinity pool.” Children’s plans to set first renderings of the campus’ premiere public aside space for a single food vendor and outdoor space, a wedge-shaped plaza that will provide tables, probably a chain like Au Bon Pain. pedestrian access from the South Street Bridge Sigh. This promenade could become so much to the front door of the new tower. The plaza more. It is the only spot south of the Waterworks is, in essence, the project’s lifeline to the city, where there is room for outdoor dining. where the public realm and Children’s’ private Once the extension of Schuylkill Banks is world will come together. Such mixing occurs finished next year, the South Street Bridge will naturally on sidewalks all over the city, but rare- become a major entrance to the park, attracting ly in the controlled world of hospital grounds. thousands of people. One can imagine families, While the rendering seems intentionally im- runners and dog owners gathering on the prom- precise, it’s all too clear that the plaza is more of enade for Sunday brunch. Oh, wait. No dog a landscaped entrance than a real park, and will owners. Children’s says it wants to discourage be as sterile as an operating room. Enormous dogs in the plaza and promenade. That’s no way planters consume most of the space, forming a to make friends with the neighborhood. cattle-chute pathway straight to the front door The public space is just as disappointing be- of Children’s’ 22-story tower. low the bridge, at Bainbridge and Schuylkill Av- While scattered benches and planter walls enue. Located just off South Street, in the thick will offer seating, everything about the design of the neighborhood, Schuylkill Avenue could, says, Look, don’t touch. You can see plenty of with some effort, become part of that walkable, so-called green space just like it if you wander commercial corridor. But Carney insists that across the South Street Bridge to the tangle of Children’s will not create any spaces for cafés driveways and porte cocheres that is the hospi- or retail. Instead, it plans an enormous circular tal district. driveway that it says might be used occasion- It doesn’t help matters that Children’s’ plan ally for farmers markets or events. Does an of- calls for a 30-foot-long garage ramp along fice building that will house 1,000 researchers the eastern edge of the plaza — although you really need such a big drop-off? wouldn’t know that from the rendering. The Carney defends the lack of meaningful re- artist has disguised the planned 240-car garage tail by arguing that such things “are not part of with a 10-story tower that won’t be built for CHOP’s core mission.” The neighborhood as- years. Ironically, the garage driveway is one of sociation is still negotiating with Children’s for the few spots on the drawing where the render- improvements, and the hospital must still obtain ing depicts a gathering of pedestrians. several zoning planning approvals before con- All this worries Andrew Dalzell, programs struction. Will the city stand up to its second- coordinator for the South of South Street Neigh- largest employer? borhood Association. “It’s fantastic to have all Children’s may do vital work, but it’s also a these public spaces,” he says, “but are we going billiondollar nonprofit — one that will pay no to feel we are trespassing on CHOP property, or property taxes on this huge site. The health of will we feel welcomed?” its new neighborhood deserves the same quality From that plaza, Children’s employees and care as its patients. city residents are supposed to be able to contin- ue south along an elevated promenade. On the Contact Inga Saffron at [email protected], 215-854- renderings, the promenade appears as little more 2213 and on Twitter @ingasaffron. – 5.2 –.