BIG: 1200 Intrepid

BIG designed an office building in Philadelphia, featuring a double curved, pre-cast concrete facade shaped by the encounter between rectangular city blocks and James Corner’s iconic circular park.

Bjarke Ingels Group, 1200 Intrepid, Philadelphia, USA. Photo Rasmus Hjortsho

Designed by BIG in Philadelphia, 1200 Intrepid is an office building shaped by the encounter between Robert Stern’s master plan of rectangular city blocks and James Corner’s iconic, circular Central Green Park.

Bjarke Ingels Group, 1200 Intrepid, Philadelphia, USA

The building’s double curved, pre-cast concrete facade bows inwards to create a generous urban canopy that responds to the ‘shock wave’ of the park’s circular running track, activity pods and planting vignettes – rippling outwards like rings in water to invade the building’s footprint.

Shaped by the city grid, the cornice and remaining elevations return to the orthogonal design of the Navy Yard’s master plan, forming the building’s double curve and melding the neighbourhood’s two dominant forms.

 Referencing the Navy Yard’s maritime history while providing much needed natural light, a functioning periscope penetrates the core of the building, projecting views of the Navy Yard basin into the center of the elevator lobby.

Bjarke Ingels Group, 1200 Intrepid, Philadelphia, USA. Photo Rasmus Hjortshoj

Bjarke Ingels Group, 1200 Intrepid, maquette

Bjarke Ingels Group, 1200 Intrepid, site plan

1200 Intrepid, Philadelphia, USA
Program: office building
Architects: Bjarke Ingels Group
Partners in charge: Bjarke Ingels, Thomas Christoffersen, Beat Schenk
Project leaders: Sören Grünert, David Brown, Brandon Cook, Michelle Stromsta
Design team: Annette Miller, Aran Coakley, Armen Menendian, Douglass Alligood, Natalie Kwee, Peter Lee, Taylor Hewett, Terry Lallak, Thomas Fagan, Thea Sofie Gassenholm
Client: Liberty Property Trust
Collaborators: Environetics, In-Posse, LRSLA, Pennoni, Re:Vision
Area: 9,250 sqm
Completion: 2016

BIG: 1200 Intrepid

BIG designed an office building in Philadelphia, featuring a double curved, pre-cast concrete facade shaped by the encounter between rectangular city blocks and James Corner’s iconic circular park.

Latest on Architecture

Latest on Domus