I hate the Cira Center.

As far as actual construction methods go, i don't know of any specific location where all that information is being documented, i have heard though that the comcast building is going to be the tallest green building in the US.

the Cira Center is weird. I went on a tour of one of the offices that has a couple floors near the top, and it got some sort of LEED certification. And the actual office was nice, though its hard to mess up an office on like the 25th floor

But the area around it is awful, and the lame little entrance to the Cira Center is pretty bad

yeah to be fair i should say i hate the exterior of the cira center. never been inside. to me the building was much better when it was under construction and all the LEDs were pure white. I hate the multicolored shit, I hate the shape of it (too squat, add five more floors on to it then maybe it would start to resolve itself) too shiny, too completly overshadowing 30th street station. i'm excited to see the comcast building though. As far as the other lofts that are going up everywhere. Way too many of them, no one is buying, they are going to sit empty for years but the reason everyone is building is because all new construction in the city gets a 10 year tax abatement.

i think i like the exterior when you are looking at it from its thin side, when you look at it from the wide side, it is oddly squat, and just doesnt seem right

as to the interior, the one office was nice. they had some sort of reception on the ground level, which i guess is a sort of reception area (though i could be wrong and it was only used at that time). but it felt like we were in some waiting area to go to the actual reception area, and the full glass walls seemed kind of cheap, which may have been because we were looking at an empty lot (which i believe hasnt changed in the year since i was there)

seeing that terrible little overhang fin thing didnt help things either

Forgive my ignorance, but I what is the building in the background? The one that sort of looks as if the corner is folded?

I took this pic when I was in Philly for Penn’s open house. I can’t wait to move there and finally live in a real city! I am so ready to get out of LA for a while…

that is the cira center we were talking about
it is right next to 30th St Station

thats the cira center. as an outsider, whats your opinion on it?

Thanks guys!!

I'm dumb...should have looked up what you were discussing before asking. Anyway, my perspective will be a little different as I only saw it from far away (briefly). Now I know what to look up, I'd like to study it a bit further (especially the interiors) before I comment. Plus, I'm at work and really need to get something done first ;)

Anyway, I will say that this was my first thought when I saw it...





I will comment again when I get home. It is very interesting to read your perspectives though...

i admit that it is views like the one you saw it at, are the ones i tend to like it a little bit more

the way they dealt with that corner from your photo, is actually nice in my opinion
and from there, you dont see the squat-ness as much either, although when you know what it actually looks like, you can see it

its views like that, that i like it

and this one that i dont

though, admittedly, i like how the sky blends in in this photo, its the terrible white glare that bothers me in different light

haha, most of the images i see of it when i do a quick search show it as the sky is blended in with the facade to make it almost invisible. if it looked like that in real life i would like it a lot better

OK Thats it, Archinect field trip to the cira center once WhatToDo gets into town.

There is one view of the building I like, and thats when you are coming out of 30th street station at night and this mass of glass and lights is looming up in the darkness right in front of you, thats not a bad view. Maybe I'll try and take some pictures of it and get them on here, but dont hold your breath.

marmkid that view reminds me of the scene from flight of the navigator when the ship transforms and suddenly goes really fast. don't pretend you all aren't down with flight of the navigator

i knew there was a reason i liked that view

all architecture should be based on flight of the navigator

I saw the Cira Center as I first drove into Philly to drop off my rental at the 30th street station (I was on the 76?) and it was actually quite captivating from that perspective as it almost seamlessly blended into the sky. The glass reflected the qualities of the light perfectly and appeared to be a shard of glass/crystal or a beak in the sky. I think it was also a nice contrast to the rather heavy skyline as it stood alone, in front of the cluster. The form is somewhat interesting, but rather phallic (then again, what skyscraper isn’t?). It is alluring that something so strong and sharp appears so light and unobtrusive when clad in glass. Ultimately, that’s what it is…another glass curtain wall skyscraper and the fact that this thing isn’t completely uninteresting is a feat in itself.

It appears that I only saw its “good side” (we all have one) because, looking at the image above, it appears quite stubby (yes, that is a technical term). The proportion on the short side is terrible, where as the elongated side twists rather elegantly. As far as integration into the topography…well, that can be argued. If it completely mirrors its surroundings, whether in the sky or on the ground, is it not integrated? On the other hand, is the contrast of materiality and height so great that it mocks its surroundings by reflecting their images? I’m not convinced it was successful at either attempt. I am interested to see the integration of the architecture into the local surroundings…at a human scale.

I am very familiar with Cesar Pelli’s Pacific Design Center in LA. In contrast to the PDC, which is quite massive and obnoxious, there is a sophistication about the Cira Center. Man he loves his light effects though…the PDC glows in bright greens and blues at night, so it not surprising that he used a similar effect on this structure. As a tourist, I have to admit that the bright LED colors certainly got my attention at night. I saw them when I was exploring downtown Center City and did not know it was the same building that I noticed that morning. I could only see glimpses through cracks between the buildings and it was a nice contrast to the quiet downtown (9pm Easter Sunday night).

Anyway, that’s my ramble…I am actually interested to explore it more and would love to see the interiors (anyone know someone who knows someone?). I saw a couple renderings that look quite intriguing. I think we definitely need to have an Archinector tour/ meet-up. Anyone that references The Flight of the Navigator in an architectural analysis is ok in my book!

yeah it really is the short stubby side that hurts it in my opinion too.

the issue with the surrounding area is not so much that the design didnt integrate itself, its more a commentary about that area being a dead part of the city to begin with. I am not sure what will be done, and since it is right near highways and the train station, there is some stuff that cant be helped, like all the space to keep the trains not in use.

my only issue, and i admit i dont know the entire area too well so i could be wrong, but the only exterior entrance to the building that i know of (the main entrance i believe is the bridge that connects to the train station, as seen in Rocky Balboa) doesnt seem to fit with the rest of the building. it has the excellent flight of the navigator feel, but it opens to a dead lot, and doesnt seem to even really be used. i would almost rather it be clean to the ground, there doesnt seem to be a need for an overhang really

hmmm...really hard to tell from that perspective....but in does look awkward.

reminds me of Eric Owen Moss' "stealth" building for some reason. Even though the materiality could not be more different!







though, I know there are MAJOR conflicting opinions on archinect...I love EOM's work!

why do the images keep getting cut off on the right?

You've got to add width=415 after the image url.

Flight of the Navigator is dope.

test

:( one more time

I give up.

Like so:

[ img ]http://www.image.com/image.jpg width=415[ /img ]

thanks 765...thats what I did tho :(

one last shot...

woohoo! THANKS 765


singin' 8675309

LOL

like it or not, at least the cira center is generating some conversation. What else in philly does everyone like/hate?

the wharton building (huntsman hall) is actually really awesome. i went in there once and the materiality and spaces are great. also, i really like skirkanich hall.

PSFS building is on my good philly skyscraper list. Comcast tower will be pretty interesting once its up as well.

yeah the comcast tower will be pretty good i think, especially to see how the courtyard spaces and underground spaces actually turn out

the new one just started by city hall looks pretty interesting too, i dont know much about it yet

PSfS building is definatly one of my favorites. I was driving home from east falls last night on 76 and the scale of the comcast building to the rest of the buildings is pretty remarkable. I'm anxious to see how it turns out. Not a sky scraper at all but the work that the onion flats have been doing in north philly is pretty nice too. (unfortunatly their website is down right now or I'd link it)

thoughts on the kimmel center?

i actually really like the kimmel center, i understand it is quite unpopular.

but i think, for a collection of theaters, it has a great look from the inside. where you enter into their lobby area, and you still feel you are outside, and have the large masses of theaters around you. kind of an indoor street area almost.

and i think the glass roof structure of it is pretty cool and looks good

the onion flats work is pretty cool too, i dont know too much about them yet. there is some nice residential work being done in philly now too. dont know where all these people are coming from who will be living there