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Philadelphia
Leers Weinzapfel Architects
Photography © Peter Aaron/Esto
A warm welcome from the University's
Chilled-Water Plant
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"For
coming generations, the plant will introduce students
and visitors to the institution."
—Omar Blaik, Vice
President for Facilities Services
"The
architect and client gambled that they could make
something you remember each time you enter Philly—
and they succeeded."
—Mark Walsh
Architect
Leers Weinzapfel Architects
Client
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
Key
Players
Click here to find a complete listing of
the people and products
involved in the completion of this project and
an additional photograph.
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A two-block-long chiller plant is not
a self-evident way to say, "Welcome to the University
of Pennsylvania!" But in the hands of architects Leers
Weinzapfel, the plant has become an elegant urban gateway
for an increasingly busy side of the campus.
The university recognized that a new
chiller facility could more reliably and economically serve
its growing medical and research complex, but also saw that
the best site for it was too prominent for such a large, utilitarian
structure to be built undisguised. The architect won a competition
for the structure, sponsored by Penn, with the deceptively
simple strategy of wrapping the plant in an oblong scrim of
perforated, corrugated metal panels. A running track encircling
the enclosure and a baseball field to one side restored athletic
fields displaced by the plant.
By day, depending on the angle of the
sun, the plant appears in ghostlike profile behind the screen
and its web of supporting steel—or it can disappear,
except for its rooftop chillers, behind what looks like a
shadow-dappled solid wall. At night, fixtures ringing the
top of the enclosure project a halo of light, under which
the structure's brightly colored pipes and tanks are visible
.
While the University appreciates
this aesthetic chameleon of a gateway, it also enjoys the
plant's 40 percent lower energy usage and the ease with which
its current 20,000-ton cooling capacity can be more than doubled.
For more on this project please see the
October 2001 issue of Architectural Record.
The Winners: Chesapeake
Bay | Corning
Museum | Dulwich
Galllery | Kuhonji
Temple Gate | LVMH
Tower | Pedestrian
Bridge | Phillips
Plastics | Saitama
Arena | SAP Headquarters
| Chiller Plant
| Wieden + Kennedy
Headquarters
The Finalists:
Allegheny
Jail | Hansen
Construction | Helmut
Lang Perfumerie | Herman
Miller Showroom | Lincoln
St. Garage | TBWA/Chiat/Day
| U.S. Courthouse
| Westpac Stadium
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