flexiblefullpage
billboard
interstitial1
catfish1
Currently Reading

BIG’s design for Philadelphia Navy Yard defies gravity

Office Buildings

BIG’s design for Philadelphia Navy Yard defies gravity

The optical illusion was inspired by the circular running track of the park adjacent to the site.


By BD+C Staff | July 15, 2015
BIG’s design for Philadelphia Navy Yard defies gravity

The new structure will be part of a new mixed-use campus on Philadelphia’s historic Navy Yard. Renderings courtesy of Bjarke Ingels Group + Luxigon.

Ground has broken for 1200 Interpid, a 94,000-sf office building designed by BIG at Philadelphia’s historic Navy Yard, ArchDaily reports. The project is commissioned by Liberty Property Trust and will mark the developer’s 14th project at Navy Yards, a 1200-acre office park.

Inhabitat describes the building’s design as “an optical illusion,” as the four-story structure appears to be leaning. To date, only rendering’s of the building’s exterior have been circulated.

The $35 million project will be built adjacent to a five-acre park called Central Green. BIG’s gravity-defying structure will be part of a mixed-used campus being developed by Liberty Property Trust.

From the architects:

“1200 Interpid will be a LEED Gold office building shaped by the encounter between Robert Stern’s master plan of rectangular city blocks and James Corner’s iconic, circular Central Green Park.

The building’s double curved, pre-cast concrete façade bows inwards to create a generous urban canopy that responds to the ‘shock wave’ of the park’s circular running track, activity pods, and planting vignettes—rippling outwards like rings in water to invade the building’s footprint. Shaped by the city grid, the cornice and remaining elevations return to the orthogonal design of the master plan, forming the building’s double curve and melding the neighborhood’s two dominant forms.

Referencing the Navy Yard’s maritime history while providing much needed natural light, a functioning periscope penetrates the core of the building, projecting views of the Navy Yard basin into the center of the elevator lobby. Visitors and employees will be able to admire the mothballed ships sitting in the adjacent docks, while embracing Central Green Park—connecting the building and its inhabitants to their surroundings.”

Renderings courtesy of Bjarke Ingels Group

Renderings courtesy of Bjarke Ingels Group

Renderings courtesy of Bjarke Ingels Group

Renderings courtesy of Bjarke Ingels Group

Renderings courtesy of Bjarke Ingels Group

Renderings courtesy of Bjarke Ingels Group

Related Stories

| Mar 27, 2012

Bank of America Plaza becomes Atlanta's priciest repo

Repo will help reset market prices for real estate, and the eventual new owner will likely set rental rates at a new or near the bottom and improve the facilities to lure tenants.

| Mar 26, 2012

McCarthy tops off Math and Science Building at San Diego Mesa College

Designed by Architects | Delawie Wilkes Rodrigues Barker, the new San Diego Mesa College Math and Science Building will provide new educational space for students pursuing degree and certificate programs in biology, chemistry, physical sciences and mathematics.

| Mar 26, 2012

Ball State University completes nation's largest ground-source geothermal system

Ball State's geothermal system will replace four aging coal-fired boilers to provide renewable power that will heat and cool 47 university buildings, representing 5.5-million-sf on the 660-acre campus.

| Mar 21, 2012

10 common data center surprises

Technologies and best practices provide path for better preparation.

| Mar 20, 2012

New office designs at San Diego’s Sunroad Corporate Center

Traditional office space being transformed into a modern work environment, complete with private offices, high-tech conference rooms, a break room, and an art gallery, as well as standard facilities and amenities.

| Mar 16, 2012

Temporary fix to CityCenter's Harmon would cost $2 million, contractor says

By contrast, CityCenter half-owner and developer MGM Resorts International determined last year that the Harmon would collapse in a strong quake and can't be fixed in an economical way. It favors implosion at a cost of $30 million.

| Mar 14, 2012

Plans for San Francisco's tallest building revamped

The glassy white high-rise would be 60 stories and 1,070 feet tall with an entrance at First and Mission streets.

| Mar 13, 2012

China's high-speed building boom

A 30-story hotel in Changsha went up in two weeks. Some question the safety in that, but the builder defends its methods.

| Mar 13, 2012

Worker office space to drop below 100-sf in five years

The average for all companies for square feet per worker in 2017 will be 151 sf, compared to 176 sf, and 225 sf in 2010.

boombox1
boombox2
native1

More In Category



Sustainable Design and Construction

Northglenn, a Denver suburb, opens a net zero, all-electric city hall with a mass timber structure

Northglenn, Colo., a Denver suburb, has opened the new Northglenn City Hall—a net zero, fully electric building with a mass timber structure. The 32,600-sf, $33.7 million building houses 60 city staffers. Designed by Anderson Mason Dale Architects, Northglenn City Hall is set to become the first municipal building in Colorado, and one of the first in the country, to achieve the Core certification: a green building rating system overseen by the International Living Future Institute.


MFPRO+ News

San Francisco unveils guidelines to streamline office-to-residential conversions

The San Francisco Department of Building Inspection announced a series of new building code guidelines clarifying adaptive reuse code provisions and exceptions for converting office-to-residential buildings. Developed in response to the Commercial to Residential Adaptive Reuse program established in July 2023, the guidelines aim to increase the viability of converting underutilized office buildings into housing by reducing regulatory barriers in specific zoning districts downtown. 

halfpage1

Most Popular Content

  1. 2021 Giants 400 Report
  2. Top 150 Architecture Firms for 2019
  3. 13 projects that represent the future of affordable housing
  4. Sagrada Familia completion date pushed back due to coronavirus
  5. Top 160 Architecture Firms 2021