- Architect
KieranTimberlake - Location
Philadelphia, Pennsylvannia - Completion Date
May 2020 - Structural and Facade Engineer
Thornton Tomasetti - Structural Engineer (Construction Phase)
Keast & Hood - Landscape Architect
West 8 Landscape Design - Construction Manager
Hunter Roberts
- Exterior Envelope Contractor
National Glass & Metal Company - Curtain Wall
Erie Architectural Products - Custom Aluminum Fabrications
Architectural Systems, Inc. - Engineering for Custom Aluminum Fabrications
Progress Engineering - Aluminum Finishing
Spectrum Metal Finishing - Aluminum Coatings
PPG - Structural Glazed Brick
Glen-Gery
KieranTimberlake’s adaptive reuse of Philadelphia’s Bulletin Building transformed a 1950s design into a contemporary life sciences building that meets high performance standards. Built in 1955, and designed by George Howe—known best for the city’s iconic PSFS Building—the structure was originally the headquarters of The Evening Bulletin. The building was converted into office and academic space for nearby Drexel University in the 1990s and now, with KieranTimberlake’s design, is home to Class A life science facilities, with ground floor retail, and below-grade academic spaces.
As KieranTimberlake partner Richard Maimon explained, the design team sought to “restore” monumentality to Howe’s design—which they felt had suffered from fenestration added in the 1990s—while creating a contemporary design that also respected the original architect’s design intent.
Howe’s design incorporated a robust concrete frame, and in his words, to create a “bold recognition of a great mass of masonry standing on stilts.” In large letters ‘THE EVENING AND SUNDAY BULLETIN’ flanked the facade. An array of thin columns support brick building mass.
