Retrouvez l’intégralité du Voyage sur les cimes urbaines dans Le Tours-Tour 2010
Find the entire Travel in the sky inside Le Tours-Tour 2010 chapter

In the foreground, among the few common characteristics of the Modern buildings are the absence of ornamentation, the direct expression of structural systems and the use of muted colors.
Penn Center was significant not for the design of the individual buildings but the project as the whole. The concept as a separate pedestrian concourse linking transportation, retail and office facilities was innovative at the time and influenced downtown development in many other cities.
Penn Center Complex (Vincent G. Kling and Assoc., Emery Roth and Sons, Kohn Pedersen Fox; 1953-82)

In the background, One Liberty Place, at a height of 960 feet to the top of its spire, is the tallest building in the city and the most striking landmark day or night. The tower has a silver-blue aluminum grid which holds horizontal bands of blue glass and granite at the corners. The central portion of the façade is silver metallic glass interrupted by bands of gray granite at every fourth floor, giving scale and decoration to the façade. This combination of silver and blue glass gives the building a delicate, shimmering quality in spite of its massive size.
Two Liberty Place uses the same architectural vocabulary but in a more subdued fashion. The rectilinear tower plan is less elegant than the OLP. A single gable roof, also illuminated on its edges crowns the tower.
The tapering Melon Bank Center has central bays of vertical columns expressing the structural system of the building, rising to a projecting cornice. A lattice, pyramidal structure, housing the building’s cooling system, tops the tower and completes the obelisk analogy.
The Comcast Center is the tallest “green” building in the country. It achieved LEED certification through the use of heat deflecting glass and other features, including floor-by-floor heating and air conditioning controls, waterless urinals and the use of recycled materials. Comcast is a both a dramatic and understated addition to the city skyline.
The Bell Atlantic Tower is a contrast to its predecessors in almost every way. The form and location of the building were influenced by the special design controls along the Benjamin Franklin Parkway which limit the height of buildings within 200 feet of the Parkway. The 53 story building is easily distinguished by its rectangular shape, flat roof and warm red color. One of the most appealing qualities of the building is its color. Factory-built red granite panels with gray-tinted glass reflect the brick color of traditional Philadelphia architecture.

Two Liberty Place (Murphy, Jahn with Zeidler Roberts Partnership, 1990)
One Liberty Place (Murphy, Jahn with Zeidler Roberts Partnership, 1987)
Melon Bank Center (Kohn Pedersen Fox, 1990)
Comcast Center (Robert A. M. Stern Architects with Kendall Heaton Associates, 2008)
Bell Atlantic Tower (The Kling-Lindquist Partnership, 1991)

In the background of the background:
My iced cube Cira Centre…