the first of ten new skyscrapers being built in philadelphia, the cira centre is 34 stories of crystalline office space, situated just behind 30th street station. completed within just the last few months, the building also is also recognized as the first new commerical skyscraper in 10 years as well as the first ever on the west side of the river. designed by cesar pelli & associates and managed by brandywine realty trust, the building's form dazzled everyone the day it was rolled out. but has it realized its ambition as a defiance of the center-city marketplace and crusader for the west?
i suppose only time will tell. keystone opportunity zone tax breaks and dechert llp's residency-endorsement aside, i'm still waiting for the cira centre to do something. i'm afraid to say it, but i think it may lack Soul.
i appreciate the mirrored glass. i enjoy the obtuse angles. and damnit if i don't think the lights may even have potential. in my walks to and from school, i'm warming up to the cira centre. i like how it disappears, reflecting the sky as it does during the day. (it could do without the overhead interior lighting at night, however.)
in the end, there exists no unifying principle. to me, it's just a bag of flashy tricks. even when i visited, the best pics i could get were those with the centre as a backdrop, a lustrous prop as it were, to the refined and stately 30th street station. is that the sum total of the cira centre's potential? hopefully not.
but still i remain ambivalent. maybe it's just out of context for the moment, alone on the west side of the tracks? perhaps it needs time to grow and settle in to the space? and maybe, just maybe there's something still up cesar's sleeve that will round out the design and make sense of it all.... ?
one day i may decide for or against. until then, feel free to browse the following:
cira centre website, (includes cliche voiceover and helpful mute button)
emporis, real estate profile
facilities.net, previews and some figures for the philly market
2 comments:
But isn’t its out-of-context location part of the Cira Center’s (aesthetic) value? You take a run-down area, rusty, flat, and add to it a glass mammoth building. Is it crazy to compare its effect to throwing a urinal on an art gallery? If it had been located in Center City, The Cira would be just another skyscraper, another glass tower, another pretentious project. But it is not in center City. It is west of the river. The mark of progress. A giant eye overlooking the city. Philly’s own Colossus.
In response to your Cira shots:
http://www.friendster.com/viewphotos.php?p=e&pid=224337679&uid=260141
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