Penn Park model unveiled

An artist's rendering of the plans for Penn Park, a $40 million project located on S. 31st Street between Walnut and South streets.

Architect Michael Van Valkenburgh unveiled the model for Penn Park yesterday before the University's trustees.

Penn Park, a $40 million, 24-acre project, will integrate athletic fields in a park-like setting to serve as the athletic hub of campus. It is part of the Penn Connects initiative, the University's urban development plan.

The park will be located on S. 31st Street between Walnut and South streets.

Valkenburgh highlighted different aspects of the design - three fields, a dome to cover a field during winter months, a 12-court tennis center, a softball stadium and possibly a ropes course.

Plus, pockets of open space will cradle the fields, allowing for picnics or other casual activities.

"Historically this is one of the greatest needs," athletic director Steve Bilsky said. "Penn Park tackles it in a wonderful way that will do justice for this campus."

According to Valkenburgh, Penn Park will "connect the University to its context."

Facilities and Real Estate Services Vice President Anne Papageorge said the project is the embodiment of Penn Connects' goals.

"It's not everyday we are fortunate enough to be able to purchase a 24-acre plot of land right next to campus," she said.

Students at other urban universities, such as Columbia University, have to trek several miles to get to their athletic stadiums.

Yet the challenge in constructing Penn's athletic center lies in the topography of the site, which stands at different elevations.

Thus, Penn Connects proposes to design elevated handicapped-accessible berms - or raised paths - in order to guide pedestrians and bicyclists into the park.

Movement through the park will be "continuously fluid, almost choreographed," Valkenburgh said.

The easy access and open spaces allow for many uses of Penn Park.

The softball stadium, for example, can also serve as a place for concerts or even convocation, Facilities and Real Estate director Edward Sidor said.

In designing a park with an assortment of trees, grass and multiple fields, Penn Connects has made considerable sustainable efforts.

Penn Park is designed to have a myriad of native trees, including honey locusts and sycamores.

The design team took into account that they are building on land that is susceptible to floods.

They opted for trees that can live in wet soil without rotting and will include measures to divert excess water.

Plus, Penn Park will be importing engineered soil with various nutrients to "create an environment for trees to flourish in," Papageorge said.

The back side of the field will be coated in rough-meadow grass, another sustainable aspect of the park.

According to Sidor, this naturally brown-tinged grass requires less irrigation and fertilization.

Fields one and two will have pseudo grass, requiring no irrigation or fertilization.

Comments (13)

does this mean no more class of 1923 ice rink?

[QUOTE id="2deafca4-9d0a-4a11-b1d2-980a74c32bd2"]"Fields one and two will have pseudo grass, requiring no irrigation or fertilization." park fail.[/QUOTE] Agreed. Everything sounded great until the fake grass field. Not real, not good. The fields look like they are designed for soccer - playing soccer on synthetic surface is just plain wrong. (I have a scar on my knee from playing soccer on Franklin Field years ago - sliding for balls - something common in the sport - is something quite painful on fake grass)

We owe this all to Ian McHarg. It warms the heart.

First: synthetic grass (NextTurf most likely) means that the fields won't end up like bower now: a muddy mess after two weeks. Considering that these fields will be used by all the club sport teams and intramural teams, anything other than synthetic fields is impracticable. Secondly: it means that practices and matches aren't canceled due to the fields being damp. Thirdly: Penn Park isn't located where the Ice Rink is. But it's getting replaced by new tower (I believe; regardless, I know it's going away soon). Finally: it can't come soon enough; club sports will be allowed to play home games that are actually at home, and have fuller practice shedules. No longer will 3 club sport teams be sharing one field for an hour before intramural football kicks them off.

Any word on when it will be finished and open for use?

this is a real sad times for what looks like an end to the Class of 1923 hockey rink. why are there no plans to incorporate a new ice? this rink is used heavily throughout the fall and winter seasons by many teams (including penn & drexel men's & women's hockey programs), ed snider youth hockey foundation (a program for underprivileged local kids sponsored by the owner of the flyers to get kids off the streets and learn to play hockey), and also public skating sessions. taking this facility away will not only create a gap in activities for those youth who currently travel to the facility with ease, but it will also cause teams to relocate to already near-capacity ice rinks. plans to not replace the rink are plans that are selfish and unthoughtful by penn. certain teams, like the philadelphia freeze women's team, have been playing at the class of '23 rink for more than two decades. our longstanding loyalty was quickly forgotten when the new athletic complex was designed. penn, you should be ashamed! softball and tennis are cute, but ICE HOCKEY is athleticism at it's finest.

Looks cool. I hope we're not going to let anyone name it. i don't want a Claudia Cohen Park...

So trippy, Valkenburgh is: "[C]onnect the University to its context." What does that mean? What "context"? and "continuously fluid, almost choreographed." Huh? Probably the author seized upon some of his juicier utterances, but still. Anyway, good for him. My other question is "pseudo grass." Is that what we used to call AstroTurf? I hope not, because that would be really sad.

Fields one and two will have pseudo grass, requiring no irrigation or fertilization. park fail.

There is nothing in the master plan that calls for the elimination of the rink and it is not physically connected to the proposed Penn Park. So why the doom and gloom?

At this moment, there are no plans to close Class of '23 Arena. I've heard many different rumors involved with it though. Would be a shame to lose that place. Even with small crowds, Penn and Drexel games are a lot of fun to cover there. If they put some money into the place, it could become a hit.

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The departing underclassmen were the core of a team that went 35-3 and won the Southeastern Conference tournament before advancing to the regional finals of the NCAA tournament."I think that's what entices a lot of players with that situation," Knight said.

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