Despite high-rise condo projects featuring name-brand architects sprouting up all over Philadelphia, an innovative design for low-income housing steals the top prize from the city's AIA.
"Judges for the American Institute of Architects looked past the preening high-rise peacocks and last month awarded Philadelphia's top design prize to a modest cluster of townhouses for low-income families in North Philadelphia."
"Like the best of Philadelphia's new infill housing, the proposal offers a fresh take on the traditional rowhouse. Instead of rectangular boxes marching in single file, [Interface Studio] designer Brian Phillips laid out the 13 homes on Sheridan Street, between Berks and Montgomery, as an interlocking puzzle of L-shaped twins."
"The unconventional site plan is just a starting point, however. In a city where it is still considered innovative to dress up public housing with peaked gables and bay windows, Interface's design looks as if it were spawned in the hipster enclave of Northern Liberties. Windows blip asymmetrically across the screen of its facades like the random lights of a video game. There isn't a red brick in sight."
FULL STORY: A public housing design outshines upscale rivals
Depopulation Patterns Get Weird
A recent ranking of “declining” cities heavily features some of the most expensive cities in the country — including New York City and a half-dozen in the San Francisco Bay Area.
California Exodus: Population Drops Below 39 Million
Never mind the 40 million that demographers predicted the Golden State would reach by 2018. The state's population dipped below 39 million to 38.965 million last July, according to Census data released in March, the lowest since 2015.
Chicago to Turn High-Rise Offices into Housing
Four commercial buildings in the Chicago Loop have been approved for redevelopment into housing in a bid to revitalize the city’s downtown post-pandemic.
DC Bikeshare System Breaks Ridership Record
Capital Bikeshare users took over 20,000 rides on one day in March.
EV Infrastructure Booming in Suburbs, Cities Lag Behind
A lack of access to charging infrastructure is holding back EV adoption in many US cities.
Seattle Road Safety Advocates Say Transportation Levy Perpetuates Car-Centric Status Quo
Critics of a proposed $1.3 billion transportation levy say the package isn’t enough to keep up with inflation and rising costs and fails to support a shift away from car-oriented infrastructure.
Barrett Planning Group LLC
City of Cleburne
KTUA Planning and Landscape Architecture
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Mpact Transit + Community
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
City of Universal City TX
ULI Northwest Arkansas
City of Laramie, Wyoming
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
