Projects: Office Facilities

Bulletin Building, Schuylkill Yards, Philadelphia

RETROFIT TEAM

ARCHITECT: KieranTimberlake

STRUCTURAL ENGINEER AND FAÇADE ENGINEER: Thornton Tomasetti

STRUCTURAL ENGINEER (CONSTRUCTION PHASE): Keast & Hood

MEP ENGINEER: db | HMS

LIGHTING DESIGNER: Tillotson Design Associates

LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT: West 8

CONSTRUCTION MANAGER: Hunter Roberts Construction Group

EXTERIOR ENVELOPE CONTRACTOR: National Glass & Metal Co. Inc.

MATERIALS

Built in 1955 for the Philadelphia Bulletin, the largest afternoon paper in circulation in the Northeast, the Bulletin Building was a massive, unadorned structure that had been partially renovated in the 1990s. KieranTimberlake retained the solid structure and replaced its exterior envelope with a glazed façade that appears to be held in place by a large-scale 3D “frame.” The frame is actually extruded from the façade and floats in front of the curtainwall. The frame’s glossy “Galaxy Red” PPG Coraflon powder coating, formulated exclusively for the project, helps make the Bulletin Building the main attraction in the city’s new Schuylkill Yards development.

Visually, the new façade composition evokes the monumentality of the original building while opening the building’s external envelope. By peeling away the original monolith of brick and incorporating floor-to-ceiling windows, KieranTimberlake floods the building with natural light. Depending on conditions, the glass will be highly reflective or highly transparent. The glazing includes a ceramic frit pattern that is composed of fonts used by the Philadelphia Bulletin newspaper.

CURTAINWALL: Erie Architectural Products

GLAZING: Interpane

ALUMINUM FINISHING: Spectrum Metal Finishing

CORAFLON POWDER COATINGS: PPG

REPAIR/RESTORATION OF STRUCTURAL GLAZED BRICK: Glen-Gery

SIGNAGE: Nova Industrial Arts

PHOTOS: KIERANTIMBERLAKE/MATTHEW KRISSEL