[Untitled]

Pattamasattayasonthi, Ekachai

Washington, DC, USA

2014

005-LF-P042

Shalom Baranes Associates Architects

Professional

This proposal is designed based on assumptions that we do not have to follow current zoning, environmental codes, or height limits. The proposal also assumes that towards the year 2050 and beyond to 2150 Philadelphia will be growing exponentially with the Athenaeum of Philadelphia prospering and benefiting from endorsements, funding, archives, antiquities, and
collections from newly constructed and historical buildings.

This proposal explores the Athenaeum as a vertical landscape of public and scholarly activities. The design aims to centralize and disseminate the Athenaeum’s expansive collection and public programs throughout the building -- a tall house that reinforces fluid scholarly activities and public functions as well as creating spaces of surprise, excitement, and energy. The exposed activity-filled interior rooms and follies perpetually transform the Athenaeum’s ornamental quality. The verticality allows the Athenaeum to concentrate its wealth of knowledge into a single tower. The Athenaeum will perform a double duty as both an architectural library and a lighthouse to observe the ever-changing architecture of Philadelphia.

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