Construction is to begin on a Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG)-designed office building adjacent to a newly-opened public park in Philadelphia, US.
Developer Liberty Property Trust and joint venture partner Synterra Partners broke ground on the 94,000sq ft (8,733sq m) building, 1200 Intrepid Avenue, yesterday (30 June) at The Navy Yard waterfront campus. The four-storey structure curves inward on one side to connect to the new park.
Its double curved surface is built of alternating architectural sand-blasted white precast concrete panels and fenestration. The façade has also been designed to echo the “complex yet rational geometries of maritime architecture”, according to Bjarke Ingels, founding partner of BIG.
“Inside, the elevator lobby forms an actual periscope allowing people to admire the mothballed ships at the adjacent docks.”
The park, Central Green, was designed by New York-based landscape architect James Corner Field Operations, and officially opened yesterday. Promoting healthy lifestyles, it is organised around a circular ‘Social Track’ which provides a public space for measured exercise, as well as sunbathing and socialising.
The park interior is home to a hammock grove, sun lawn, conference table, bocce court, table tennis and a fitness area, which features TRX equipment. It is the sixth park at The Navy Yard, a former military facility which currently hosts more than 145 companies and 11,500 employees.
“It’s a bold landscape of flowering meadows, rain gardens and specimen trees that serve as the interactive backdrop to thematic interior ‘rooms’,” said James Corner, founder and director of James Corner Field Operations, of the new park.
“Central Green is a model of what a liveable city could include with the goal of promoting healthy lifestyles and a healthy environment.”
Although the BIG-designed building currently has no confirmed tenants, Liberty Property Trust is confident that the new additions to the The Navy Yard campus present an attractive location for businesses from around the world.
“We are redefining the intersection of work and play,” said John Gattuso, Liberty Property Trust senior vice president and regional director. “With the help of two extremely talented design teams, we further advance the reality of The Navy Yard as one of the most compelling work environments in the Philadelphia region.”
The new office building will be ready for occupancy in 2016, according to the developer.
