Set your sights high and then sound off

March 1, 2007
Chris Satullo
Inquirer columnist

Over the last month, I've sifted through mounds of public comments about the Kimmel Center, solicited as part of an effort to fix problems with the arts venue on South Broad.

This civic-feedback project taught me something: People have a lot of pent-up views about buildings that rise to alter the penthouse view.

Is there something about the Kimmel that triggers uniquely energetic responses? Or do you hold equally simmering opinions about other high-profile projects?

Let's test that question. Below are my capsule reviews of some major projects done around the region over the last decade. Most were built using some public subsidy, making them fair game. Please send me your judgments on any or all, to the e-mail address below.

The Cira Centre: This glittering chunk of quartz next to 30th Street Station is Philadelphia's mood ring. Along with many, I love it. My question for public review is not so much the building, but about those lights of rotating hues that it sports at night. What's your view on them: Yes, no, maybe so?

The Comcast Center: At a citizens' meeting last month, someone snarled: "Can we get this ugly thing torn down?" Others immediately leaped to this tower's defense. So it goes. The nearly completed building is fated to provoke divergent reactions, in part because of how people feel about the corporation that occupies it.

From the west and east, the 975-foot skyscraper is a most elegant icicle. My architect friend Bill Becker raves about the "smart conversation" its lean, perpendicular lines conduct with the chunkier, angled Cira on the other side of the Schuylkill. But I approach the building from Kelly Drive each day, gazing in bemusement at the dark slit high on its north face. It looks like the eyehole in the Dark Prince's armor. What's up with that? Your thoughts?

The Independence Mall trio: First, thank God they finally planted the grass; looks great. At the mall's north end, the handsome National Constitution Center succeeds nicely by not going down the cliched red-brick road. Like the Kimmel, though, its interior has grand, empty spaces that pose the question, "What exactly am I supposed to do here?" (It does teach the Kimmel what a few colorful banners can do to warm a space.)

The redone design for the Independence Visitor Center was an upgrade on the original, which looked like the science wing of a suburban high school. I know architects who defend the fast-food stand that used to house the Liberty Bell. I thought it proved what a huge shame it was for our city that the Bicentennial occurred during the taste-challenged '70s. Anything would be better, but how well do you like the new Liberty Bell pavilion?

The stadiums: To me, Citizens Bank Park does a fabulous job of overcoming the fact that it was built in the wrong place (i.e. not at Broad and Spring Garden Streets). It tops Camden Yards. I've never seen a game at Lincoln Financial Field. (Wow, those tickets cost a lot on StubHub.) For those who have, what do you think of the Linc, swaying ramps and all?

Penn's Landing: The Hyatt hotel at this star-crossed site reminds me of nothing so much as the Tower of Terror at Walt Disney World. The big question: Now that the cross-river tram project seems to have died a deserved death, what happens to the huge concrete stanchions prematurely built for it? Will they loom forever like Philadelphia's Stonehenge, mystifying archaeologists circa 3934?

The condo towers: They bloom all over Center City. The biggest are the St. James (well-done), Symphony House, the almost-done Murano (a little taste of Houston in Center City), and Waterfront Square (a sour taste of Florida on the riverfront). In general, what's your view of this trend - unimaginable 25 years ago - of residential towers staring Billy Penn in the eye?

The suburbs produce fewer striking buildings, since the big projects there tend to sprawl in cookie-cutter ways rather than to rise distinctively on the horizon. But here are a couple to discuss:

Adventure Aquarium: Does this private-venture redo of the former New Jersey State Aquarium on the Camden waterfront repair the mistakes of the original?

Garden State Park: Speaking of cookie-cutter, Cherry Hill got this typical Home Depot/Dick's/Bed Bath & Beyond shopping complex with townhouses nearby, instead of the innovative New Urbanist plan once proposed for the old racetrack site. Of course, people love these centers; I spend a ton of money at the one near me. But couldn't South Jersey have taken one risk one time to defy the laws of sprawl? Your thoughts?

Have at this roster, and I'll report your comments in a future piece.