43288749
Fast forward 16 years and imagine a greener South Philly, one where electric vehicles are double parked on Ritner Street and drivers refuel their cars at charging stations — not gas stations — on Broad Street. With the country’s dependency on oil waned, the land currently housing the Sunoco Refinery serves other purposes, possibly new development built for one massive celebration — America’s 250th birthday.
These scenarios might seem grandiose. But that’s not to say young urban designers from across the globe aren’t toying with such ideas.
Five teams of college scholars from South Korea, Canada and the United States have developed their own futuristic proposals for the fifth annual Student Design Competition, developed by the Center City-based Philadelphia Center for Architecture and The Ed Bacon Foundation. International collegiate students from all disciplines were instructed to develop a compelling design for this year’s theme, “Designing the Fair of the Future” that encompasses Packer Park, the sports complex, Navy Yard and a portion of Southwest Philly.
Since South Philly continues to reclaim its industrial land for sustainable reuse, the judges deemed the area an ideal fit for the competition. The site used in the competition is bounded by the I-76, 26th Street, Penrose Avenue, I-95, Fort Mifflin Road, the Delaware River and the Walt Whitman Bridge.
“The [competition committee] wanted to use a large-scale part of the city with a lot of underutilized or empty land, or land that would be redeveloped within the next 15 to 20 years,” Greg Heller, chair of the Ed Bacon Program Advisory Committee, said. “The site has a lot going for it, and we felt we made the best choice for this particular contest.”
The hypothetical event is intended to underscore America’s landmark birthday in 2026. The fair held a century earlier occurred at Municipal Stadium, later renamed JFK Stadium at Broad Street and Pattison Avenue, which was built for the occasion, according to the foundation’s website.
“When I first did the research of our relatively checkered history of centennial celebrations, I said, ‘Is it worth it?’” Andrew Dalzell, administrator for the Ed Bacon Foundation and program coordinator for the South of South Neighborhood Association, said. “Do we want to have a 16-year fight that leads to nothing, similar to what happened for the Bicentennial, or do we look at the Centennial and create something that’s still being talked about over 100 years later? This competition is forcing this discussion and putting some fantastic visual ideas to what is possible.”
The competition is a tribute to Bacon, the renowned city planner who died in ’05 and fathered actor Kevin Bacon and music composer Michael Bacon.
“Ed Bacon, throughout his life, had this incredible commitment to the next generation of designers,” Heller said. “This competition is a way of commemorating Bacon’s legacy through an active program … for young designers around the world and also offer prize money that could be used to further their education.”
Selecting the competition’s themes and geography has always been a collaborative process among the committee. This year’s “jury” includes Elinor Bacon, E.R. Bacon Development president and Ed’s daughter; Scott Gabriel Knowles, Drexel University assistant professor and “Imagining Philadelphia: Edmund Bacon and the Future of the City” author; and Don Jones, principal at EwingCole, the primary design firm responsible for Citizens Bank Park, 1 Citizens Bank Way.
Participants in this year’s competition were supplied with aerial photos and snapshots of the community via the competition’s website. Given minimal instruction, they were informed of specific landmarks, including FDR Park, Broad Street and Pattison Avenue, the stadiums and the Navy Yard, 5100 S. Broad St. Creating new structures in a sustainable fashion on or near any of these grounds that addressed sustainability also was permitted.
Students were required to address design “challenges,” including any necessary updates to the city’s infrastructure, collaborative efforts between residents and planners and choosing temporary or permanent structures built for the celebration while maintaining the character of each neighborhood.
Since the judges were reviewing the competition’s entries at press time, Heller wasn’t able to provide details on submissions.
The judges panel will be pinpointing teams who thought outside of the box, Dalzell said.
“[The judges] look for an understanding of the realism of development,” the resident of the 2000 block of Fitzwater Street said. “They have an eye for what’s real and what the snags would be and they reward creativity and innovation every year.”
The winners receive a portion of the $6,000 prize supplied from this year’s seven corporate donors, including the Penn Institute for Urban Research and the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Market. The judges will announce their decisions for the top-three winners, as well as honorable mention Dec. 7 at the center.
Other areas “reimagined” in previous competitions were Penn Center; the Gallery at Market East; North Philly’s Ludlow neighborhood; and South Philly’s Grays Ferry Crescent, a stretch of land bound by 34th Street, Grays Ferry Avenue and the Schuylkill River. The first-place team from last year’s Grays Ferry competition was from Cornell University and developed a mixed-use plan that included residential, commercial/retail and parkland. While these projects haven’t left the design phase, Heller noted that land and building owners from the various neighborhoods have expressed interest in the students’ ideas.
World’s fairs and exhibitions aren’t foreign to Philadelphia; the city hosted the Great Central Fair in 1864, which was less a celebration and more of a fundraiser for the United Sanitary Commission, which assisted wounded soldiers during the Civil War. The Centennial Exhibition in ’76 took taking place predominantly in Fairmount Park and included a 21-acre temporary building, considered the largest structure of its time. Permanent structures, including the still-standing Memorial Hall, also were built for the event.
Compared to the 1876 celebration, the 1976 Bicentennial event was viewed as a lackluster effort despite years of planning. The biggest point of contention was location, as many planners favored differing spots to host the event. They never agreed on a locale, but it ended up being in South Philly.
While a fair isn’t currently on the table for 2026, prepping for the proposed event that could redefine South Philly continues. The Student Design Competition also is in the process of evolving, Heller said.
“One of the things I’d like to do is get together a focus group of professors to see what we can do to better integrate this competition into the curriculum of Philadelphia schools,” he said. SPR
For more information on the Student Design Competition, visit www.edbacon.org/usa250.
43288754
43288744
