Institute for Smart & Healthy Cities Venice Exhibit 2023

Student Projects

Market Street Vertical Village

  • Michael Catalfano

The goal of this project was to look at an underutilized parking lot in Center Philly at the Corners of 8th and Market Street. This Parking Lot, looking forward into the future of 2050 and beyond, is a prime candidate for the a new Vertical City Concept to take place. This project utilizes this idea by creating a podium space underneath a soaring residential tower that allows residents to have everything they need without having to leave the building. This helps cut down on the emissions made by traveling to and from the store or other services. By keeping everything within the building envelope this allows for a plethora of urban amenities to exist within a single structure. The podium space is not only to be used by the residents but the neighboring areas and allow for a new way of thinking about how a building can be organized in the ever evolving city landscape.

Day time render showing the residential tower rising above the neighboring mid-rise buildings.
Axon Model Views
Building Volume Diagrams 1. Base of the building 2. Extruding the Rectilinear base upwards 3. Cutting of form into separate forms one Tower form and one Podium form 4. Cutting into the residential tower to emphasize views 5. Adding the green roofs and adding the outdoor spaces
East Section View: Looking at how the green spaces and the green infrastructure begin to take over the residential tower again allowing for the building to remain cool at all times with little use of the HVAC units.
North Elevation View: Looking at the ETFE Facade Canopy that is created as a way to help shield the building insides from the harsh sunlight which helps reduce the overall temperature in the building and the need of cooling.
North Section View: Emphasizing the spaces in the podium and how they are laid out to create this sense of motion within the building
North Section View: Emphasizing spaces in podium and how laid out to create this sense of motion within the building