Architecture: Troubled bridge over stopped traffic

Penn has sponsored thoughtful architecture in its past, using inventive designs that preserve the character of existing buildings and spaces to adapt them to the needs and aesthetic wants of a 21st century University. Venturi Scott Brown and Associates' Houston Hall is an example of subtle contemporary use of light, glass, metals and even LED displays integrated into an older building. The Education Building at 37th and Walnut streets is another example of this conscious use of anachronistic combination. These architectural additions and renovations respond well to the challenge of adding to a historic campus. These buildings avoid new elements that would stand out as architectural novelties. Instead, they frame the existing stone, brick and masonry of the 19th and 20th centuries with today's preferred materials of aluminum, glass and delicate light.

The complex meeting point of time and space that historically aware architecture achieves has been entirely ignored in the new "Generational Walk" on the Class of '49 Bridge that spans 38th Street. This confused creation was unveiled earlier this month as part of the 125 Years of Women at Penn celebration. Incongruous at best, it has too many symbolic elements to be architecturally coherent. While the new lighting is a welcome improvement over the incidental and eerie glow that used to fall from a lone street lamp onto the dark bridge, the rest of the added "architecture" is badly conceived.

The oversized aluminum columns do not suggest anything significant. Perhaps a rhythmic reference to the sculptures on the bridges of Eastern Europe, or an attempt to visually anchor the two sides of the bridge, these pillars look like awkwardly large ship moorings that dwarf the passersby. The two cement elements--the blob and the egg--look plastic and accidentally dropped in contrast to the otherwise highly-controlled look of the bridge. Their lithic primitiveness further disconnects them from the sleek and modern look of the brushed aluminum elements. The occasional blank granite rectangles are, despite their patterned spacing and smoother appearance, equally suspect as to their intention.ÿPerhaps the architect was told to include un-sponsored spots that would attract student flyers to preserve the visibility of the donors' names.

The biggest disappointment of this latest addition to the Penn campus is the missed opportunity it represents. Nobody seems to know why the renovations were made, other than as a fund-raising effort for the University.ÿWhat is a "Generational Walk?" Why is having one important? A celebration of women at this university could have been commemorated by a thoughtful creation or monument.ÿThinking about what could have been, Maya Lin's Women's Table at Yale comes to mind. The designer of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, and a Yale alumna, Lin created a simple and austere statement in stone and water. The polished, circular surface of the stone is etched with the number of women enrolled at Yale each year since its founding. The abundance of zeros represents the years before the school was made co-educational and testifies to the success of women at the university. The centrally located work commands its own space in front of the main library, implying that its message is also an integral part of campus life.

Hardly anybody will notice the bridge's glaring architectural and ideological shortcomings as it sits in the shadow of Wharton's new hulking Huntsman Hall. Serious opportunities call for intelligent design, but first they require recognition of their status as serious. Celebrating women at Penn could have spawned a successful and creative endeavor, but it was instead relegated to an uninspired plaque. Our bridge may be a gaudy jewel of empty fund-raising, but its gilded luster will (thankfully) fade when rain, snow and duct-taped flyers cover it once again.

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