Philly's New Tallest Tower Earns Positive Reviews

The Philadelphia Inquirer rolled out a bunch of coverage of the new Comcast Technology Center, a 60-story skyscraper that will redefine the city skyline while symbolizing the city's economic recovery in the 21st century.

Jon Snyder reports the news about the new skyscraper:

The 60-story glass-and-steel Comcast Technology Center is the first Philadelphia building to surpass 1,000 feet and is currently the 10th-tallest in the country at 1,121 feet, higher than any building outside of New York and Chicago. Paired with the 2008 Comcast Center, the new tower forms a unique corporate campus in the heart of the city.

The $1.5 billion skyscraper includes public and corporate spaces. Its offices host more than 4,000 Comcast employees, and television and radio studios occupy some of the lower floors. A Four Seasons hotel that is due to open later this spring occupies the highest floors and is being billed as the tallest hotel in the country. Comcast CEO Brian Roberts and his wife, Aileen, have bought the entire 45th floor as a personal residence. The entrance to the building on 18th Street opens to an inviting 70-foot-high lobby that is open to the public.

Snyder's coverage of the new skyscraper also includes a detail infographic revealing the design and engineering holding the building up. One nice detail we noticed in the infographic: " A small replica of City Hall’s William Penn statue was installed on the highest steel beams in late 2017 in order to avoid the “Curse of Billy Penn” — a legend that no Philly team could win a sports championship if there were buildings higher than the statue’s head."

Architecture critic Inga Saffron also provides a positive review for the new building, pointing especially to the building success in connecting to its home town:

What the new Comcast tower offers Philadelphia is something far more meaningful and lasting than a mere height record. The new tower is the rare, globally produced, corporate behemoth that speaks directly to its hometown, intimately, with affection. You can almost hear the c’mon and the jawn echo from the lobby’s end-grain wood tiles, reclaimed from old factories. Where Comcast soars is on the ground and in the numerous public spaces that weave through the building, syncing the tower to the rhythms of Philadelphia.