Class designs plans for campus

Behind closed doors they plot -- knock down the Civic Center and build a new hospital; destroy Franklin Field and rebuild it on Walnut Street near the Schuylkill River. These were among the more radical solutions a group of City Planning graduate students proposed to Barbara Kaplan, director of the Philadelphia City Planning Commission. But a second group from the Studio 701 class assigned to create a plan for development of the eastern edge of campus produced a potentially feasible plan to transform the University into "Penn on the Schuylkill" -- a waterfront community like Harvard. "I didn't invite the president," joked Anthony Tomazinis, chairperson of the City Planning Department. "That's all right -- we can show her all this," said James Kise, a City Planning instructor. But beyond the joking, the project took its cue from University President Judith Rodin's stated desire to "go east." "As President Rodin has said, 'It's going to be enhancement to the west and expansion to the east'," City Planning student Brennan Pang said. City Planning student Heather Gazen added that her group's proposal is "long-term development." A highlight of the plan includes new graduate housing on the current Navy training facility on the east side of the Schuylkill. "This would be privately developed but intended for student use," Gazen said. "It would be apartment complexes that could house families." The students designed plans for a new pedestrian-friendly South Street Bridge that would link the housing to the top of a 400-car, 2-level parking garage just north of the current University City SEPTA station. Surrounding the SEPTA station and the top of the garage would be "open air markets" with lots of green space -- part of an uninterrupted "door" from the heart of campus to the Schuylkill, "opened up" by the demolition of Hutchinson Gymnasium. But most new construction would take place near Walnut Street near the Schuylkill. The Studio 701 group envisions a new recreation center -- to replace Hutchinson Gymnasium -- on the south side of Walnut Street. To create a residential feel for the east side of campus, a new undergraduate quadrangle dorm would be built, providing a clientele for both the recreational arena and the shops near the parking garage and the SEPTA station. "Finding extra academic residences and common areas is what long-term planning needs," Gazen said. She said the new graduate housing would help to bring graduate students west from Center City. "The first step is to improve the housing that already exists in the West Philadelphia area," Kaplan remarked.

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