Completed 2018

Description:  The viaduct was built in the 1890s as the second phase of the industrial revolution reshaped surrounding blocks, bringing warehouses, factories, coal yards, and row homes for the people whose labor made the manufacturing boom possible.

By the late 1990s many of the rowhouses were gone along with the manufacturers and railroad companies, the last train having run in 1984. The vacated industrial buildings had become residences, although with little to no exterior space to share. Neighbors began advocating for reusing the Viaduct to provide the missing communal outdoor space.

Responding to the demand for something “for the neighborhood, not a tourist destination,” the design team looked to the rowhouse block typology where stoops are the places to connect with neighbors, learn the latest, and watch activity in the street. 

The Viaduct Spur reintroduces the stoop, detached from domestic architecture and opened up for everyone to use. The enlarged stoops, supported on repaired bridges and capped soils, culminate in a string of porch swings. These reinforce each other, creating multiple points where neighbors can choose to watch or engage, shifting roles. Since opening in 2018, the stoops and porch swings have been stands for spectators, stages for performers, meeting spaces for community groups, and daily places to simply hang out after school or see who else is passing by.

Team: 

Center City District, Client

Urban Engineers, Civil/Environmental/Structural

TEND Landscape, Planting Consultants

The Lighting Practice, Lighting Design

Cloud Gehshan, Environmental Graphic Design