This studio explores the future of a massive 600-acre stretch along the South Philadelphia waterfront, an area currently filled with big-box stores, port operations, and industrial infrastructure. Despite its size and importance to the city’s economy, the site is physically and socially cut off from surrounding neighborhoods by I-95, leaving nearby residents with little to no access to the river.
Projects imagine what this place could become by the year 2100. The result is a series of bold, future-focused design proposals that balance environmental resilience with access, equity, and reimagined public space.
The Reflections Heritage Plan proposes the preservation and reuse of key spaces, systems, and symbols across the South Philadelphia industrial waterfront. By identifying a network of underutilized buildings, streets, and rail infrastructure, the plan envisions a heritage-driven resilient district rooted in layered history and local identity. The core area, bounded by Snyder Avenue, Wolf Street, Swanson Street, and Weccacoe Avenue, offers a critical concentration of assets to build from and serves as a backbone for the waterfront park and I-95 redevelopment. The project emphasizes the preservation of architectural character, adaptive reuse of industrial structures, and the reconnection to surrounding neighborhoods and community anchors.
The I-95 Redevelopment Plan proposes the transformation of 30 acres of I-95 land between Washington and Oregon Avenues into a linear neighborhood that reconnects South Philadelphia residents to a revitalized waterfront district. The design focuses on reflecting the urban fabric by activating the site’s edge on Front St, introducing a mix of building typologies and uses, and creating unique anchor public spaces that repurpose segments of the existing highway to honor its legacy. Alongside the physical plan, an economic analysis explores how a development of 1.2 million square feet could contribute to more than a 1% increase of Philadelphia’s tax base and help generate lasting cultural and economic development for South Philly.
