http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/inga_saffron RSS Feed for Inq Col Inga Saffron en-us Fri, 17 Feb 2012 18:20:11 GMT http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/inga_saffron/20120217_Changing_Skyline__Odd_silence_on_options_for_altering_I-95.html The Nutter administration loves to plan stuff. It has probably turned out more master plans in the last four years than the previous two administrations combined. And yet there's one part of the city that it has steadfastly refused to discuss: the I-95 corridor. http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/inga_saffron/20120120_Changing_Skyline__Zoning_variances_threaten_character_of_Powelton_Village.html Powelton Village has every reason to top the list of Philadelphia's most desirable neighborhoods. Let's start with location. As the first residential area west of Center City, it is a brisk 15-minute walk from downtown. It boasts some of the best transit connections in town, a rich stock of Italianate villas and Victorian twins, and postcard views of the skyline. Geographically, it occupies the same urban niche as Georgetown and Cambridge. http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/inga_saffron/20120113_Changing_Skyline__An_energy-saving_milestone_planned_for_Philadelphia_s_Kelly_Drive.html A building that runs on half the usual amount of energy? How ho-hum. These days, most new construction in Philadelphia can do that without even trying, simply by adhering to the U.S. Green Building Council's basic LEED standards. What would be really interesting is if someone put up a major building that consumed no energy at all. http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/inga_saffron/20120106_Anne_Tyng__91__groundbreaking_architect.html Anne Tyng, a pioneering woman architect whose ideas about geometry influenced Louis Kahn's buildings and who later had a child with him, died Tuesday, Dec. 27, in Greenbrae, Calif. She was 91, said her daughter, Alexandra, who lives outside Philadelphia. http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/inga_saffron/20120106_Changing_Skyline__Suburbia_s_outer_ring_losing_shine__some_economists_say.html I set out the other day to find the outer edge of the Philadelphia suburbs and ended up in a Chester County subdivision called Oakcrest. Located 45 miles west of Center City, just outside Coatesville, Oakcrest has a network of immaculately paved streets, glossy utility boxes, and an active sales office. What it does not have is a lot of houses. http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/inga_saffron/20120105_Quashing_an_attempt_at_another_Family_Court_fast_one.html Family Court may go down in history as the ultimate stealth building. Now under construction at 15th and Arch Streets, the scandal-tainted state courthouse was initially outsourced to a private developer and designed in secret. http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/inga_saffron/20111230_Changing_Skyline__Zoning_by_fiat_may_be_on_the_way_out_in_Philadelphia.html This has not been a good year for despots. North Korea's Kim Jong Il met his maker, Egypt's Hosni Mubarak is under arrest, and Syria's Bashar al-Assad faces a future that looks rocky. But in Philadelphia, City Council members get to rule their districts with an iron hand - at least for now. http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/inga_saffron/20110819_Changing_Skyline__Design_of_Curtis_Institute_s_Lenfest_Hall_has_strong_points_but_lacks_spark.html Lenfest Hall, the new dormitory and rehearsal hall for the Curtis Institute of Music, exhibits all the familiar tropes of a building by Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown: the square windows, the ghosts of classical columns, the bold typography, the contrast of an overscale design element (a bay window, this time) with Lilliputian doors. Yet, technically speaking, Lenfest Hall is not a Venturi and Scott Brown building. http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/inga_saffron/20110812_Changing_Skyline__Biology_central.html Was it only three years ago that Radar Magazine crowned Drexel University the "ugliest campus" in a roundup of American colleges? The charge seemed a bit unfair then, even if Market Street was still ablaze with Drexel's orange-brick relics. But it's clearly wrong today. http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/inga_saffron/20110729_Changing_Skyline__Planned_Chestnut_Street_skyscraper_has_pedestrian_design.html There are signs, ever so faint, that Philadelphia is starting to build housing again. Two companies just went head-to-head for the right to develop a high-visibility corner at Broad and South Streets. Northern Liberties is awash in orange zoning notices, just as it was in the boom years. A developer even wants to build a mid-rise condo building in quaint Chestnut Hill, on Magarity Ford's Germantown Avenue property.