An urban planning exhibit in the Left Bank apartment complex could be the beginning of an innovative University venture to change housing in West Philadelphia.
The exhibit, titled "Urban Life: Housing in the Contemporary City," features mostly European housing models that find innovative architectural methods to solve nagging urban problems.
With architectural examples from Paris to the Netherlands, the display boasts photographs of apartments and houses that twist, slope, curve and otherwise look anything but traditional.
One notable entry is four Viennese complexes constructed out of an industrial eyesore: gas storage tanks. The tanks now house a shopping mall, archives, an entertainment space and apartments.
So how does Viennese innovation relate to the West Philadelphia housing crisis?
Eugenie Birch, chairwoman of the City and Regional Planning Department, says Viennese ideas could have a place here, too.
Birch is part of a group of University faculty and staff involved with West Philadelphia's People's Emergency Center -- a nonprofit social service agency -- which created the Penn Center for Innovation in Affordable Housing Design.
The center got its wings when it received a $400,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development last spring.
After seeing the exhibit first at the Architectural League of New York, professors lobbied to get it moved down to campus.
Birch said, "We just wanted this conversation about this exhibit to go on," in order to spark creativity on the subject of West Philadelphia housing.
If all goes according to plan, that creativity will be funneled by University architecture students very soon.
After taking a myriad of courses and studio classes on subjects including affordable housing, urban housing typologies and technical innovations in urban housing, the students will actually design housing units.
The students will then consult with a professional architect to refine their drawings.
In the fall of 2006, when these drawings are actually implemented and an innovative housing complex is built with PEC funding, West Philadelphia may take its place alongside Vienna.
The University's senior vice president for facilities and real estate, Omar Blaik, is responsible for bringing the academic resources of the University into the real estate fold.
"Successful city building is dependent on a multitude of housing options, designs and strategies allowing for a cross-section of our society to call the city home," Blaik said.
The designs at the exhibit wrestle with problems of transportation, environment and lack of space.
Futuristic neon plaques complement the photographs, with splashy graphics reading things like "Body_Allows for flexible, changing occupation of space through open floor plan."
In this case, they are referring to a building that used an abundance of sliding glass doors to allow for instant reshaping of room size in response to a lack of space.
Birch says one idea already being considered for West Philadelphia is a new creative focus on non-traditional families, such as single-parent families.
She suggests a "more cooperative arrangement," possibly including "joint playrooms."
The exhibit is located in the Facilities and Real Estate Services office at 3101 Walnut St. It will remain on display until Dec. 10, and is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
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