Inga Saffron

Inga Saffron is the Architecture critic for the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Read Inga's blog Changing Skyline
Latest post: I-95: Where's the Data? - 02/24/2012
Email Inga at isaffron@phillynews.com

Gallery: The Barnes Foundation: Exterior
Ravishing building cut off from city

Gallery: The Barnes Foundation: Exterior
Exclusive multimedia: The new Barnes revealed
Galleries shine at Barnes

Dirt is making a comeback - 04/03/2012: Inga Saffron

Would you live in a house made of dirt? The answer, I'm guessing, is no. As a building material, dirt has an image problem. Now, thanks to the effort of several committed architects, dirt is making a comeback.
For Barnes, some parallels at Boston museum - 03/16/2012: By Inga Saffron, Inquirer Architecture Critic

Changing Skyline: Seeing the modernized campus of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is good preparation for assessing the shock to come at the Barnes' new home on the Parkway.
Odd silence on I-95 - 02/17/2012: By Inga Saffron, Inquirer Architecture Critic

Changing Skyline: Given the growing interest in capturing the Delaware waterfront's economic potential, the future of I-95 should be a hot topic for the Nutter administration. Instead, it's virtually taboo.
Zoning threatens character of Powelton Village - 01/20/2012: By Inga Saffron, Inquirer Architecture Critic

Changing Skyline: Philadelphia's Zoning Board of Adjustment recently approved the construction of a new, 18-bed student rental for Drexel University, in the middle of Powelton Village's most historic block.
An energy-saving milestone planned for Kelly Drive - 01/13/2012: By Inga Saffron, Inquirer Architecture Critic

Changing Skyline: Hold onto your electric bills, because the first net-zero apartment house in the United States is coming to a most unlikely spot: a forlorn lot on Kelly Drive in East Falls.
Suburbia's outer ring said to be losing shine - 01/06/2012: By Inga Saffron, Inquirer Architecture Critic

Changing Skyline: With the trend back to city life, has the region's suburban sprawl reached its limit?
Zoning by fiat may be on the way out - 12/30/2011: By Inga Saffron, Inquirer Architecture Critic

Changing Skyline: In Philadelphia, City Council members get to rule their districts with an iron hand. This tradition may soon end.
Design of Lenfest Hall lacks spark - 08/19/2011: By Inga Saffron, Inquirer Architecture Critic

Changing Skyline: Lenfest Hall, the new dorm and rehearsal hall for the Curtis Institute, is certainly not your average developer building - far from it. It aspires to be a work of art, and is admirable in many ways.
Biology central at Drexel - 08/12/2011: Drexel's fine new limestone-faced lab building is a paean to a burgeoning interest in biological sciences.

By Inga Saffron, Inquirer Architecture Critic

Changing Skyline: Driven by the revved-up agenda of the late Constantine Papadakis, Drexel has cleaned up nicely in the last few years. The latest evidence of that may be the very fine Papadakis Integrated Sciences Building about to open at 33d and Chestnut Streets.
Planned skyscraper has pedestrian design - 07/29/2011: By Inga Saffron, Inquirer Architecture Critic

Changing Skyline: Now that the Buck tower project on Chestnut Street is finally a go, it's hard not to feel deflated. Lean times may produce lean design, but the plan fails to meet even the most modest expectations.

MORE STORIES

Warehouse-size billboard eyed for waterfront site - 07/22/2011: By Inga Saffron, Inquirer Architecture Critic
Sharing a vision for a friendlier City Avenue - 07/15/2011: By Inga Saffron, Inquirer Architecture Critic
Another blingy Broad St. building - 07/08/2011: By Inga Saffron, Inquirer Architecture Critic
Mercer Museum is concrete space done right - 06/24/2011: By Inga Saffron, Inquirer Architecture Critic
A park on high - 06/17/2011: By Inga Saffron, Inquirer Architecture Critic
A vision of Philly's future - 06/10/2011: By Inga Saffron, Inquirer Architecture Critic
History vs. high-rises: An urban debate - 06/03/2011: By Inga Saffron, Inquirer Architecture Critic
New parks sprout in Philly - 05/27/2011: By Inga Saffron, Inquirer Architecture Critic