New Penn's Landing Park Breaks Ground
The new Penn's Landing Park is scheduled to break ground on September 6. The 11.5-acre park will reconnect Philadelphia to the Delaware River, guiding pedestrians from city sidewalks to a new public landscape, amenities, and attractions that bridges over I-95.
KieranTimberlake's scope of work includes the architectural design of the central pavilion which will house and support park amenities, including a café, skate rentals and support for the adjacent ice rink/summer plaza, and office space for the Delaware River Waterfront Corporation (DRWC) park operations team. It is projected to be Philadelphia's first mass timber and zero carbon structure for public use.
The pavilion will provide a welcoming gateway to the waterfront and an iconic destination within the park. In addition to the fixed programs within the pavilion, the design will accommodate flexible special events and functions of varied scales and activity. The café will serve as both a public-facing amenity and a landmark connection to the park and waterfront.
The DRWC's ambitious sustainability goals have enabled KieranTimberlake to pursue a high-performance building design with a target goal of net zero energy consumption and net zero carbon. To support these sustainability goals, the project is targeting to meet both the LEED Platinum certification and Zero Carbon Certification through the International Living Future Institute.
Preliminary construction began in March. The project was designed in collaboration with Hargreaves Jones, the DRWC, and the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT).