Thursday, May 2, 2019
8:00 AM - 9:30 AM
Center / Architecture + Design, 1218 Arch Street
By the mid-twentieth century, the Evening Bulletin was the country’s largest circulation afternoon newspaper. In establishing a new headquarters that included both publishing and printing, architect George Howe designed a complex opposite 30th Street Station that was both modern and functionally state-of-the-art, a monumental response to the grandeur of its neighbor. The building’s design is noteworthy for its robust construction and massive scale, simple but powerful elevated volume atop slender legs and recessed base, taut masonry skin, expansive horizontal east façade, subtle asymmetry, and assertive signage. These features are reinforced with detailing: smooth monochromatic glazed brick, curved corners, ribbon windows set in deep masonry cuts on the north and south, prominent use of stainless steel, asymmetrical placement of entry and lobby, and the building-spanning loggia and its relation to the adjacent landscape. While the building’s east facade was degraded significantly through alteration in the 1990s, the key features of Howe’s design remain intact. In re-imagining the building, Brandywine and KieranTimberlake retain the scale, massing, and character of the original building while evolving the design to accommodate new uses and standards. The building’s original fabric and features are retained and enhanced, balanced with distinctly new, but sympathetic, interventions. The evolution of the building over time will be clear, with new and original elements enhancing one another. The Bulletin Building, along with the adjacent Drexel Square park, is intended as a dynamic centerpiece for the Schuylkill Yards development.
Richard Maimon
Gerard H. Sweeney