Mixed-Use Apartment Building

Technique: ProCreate Drafting and Rendering

Fall 2025

The program consisted in designing a mixed-use apartment building that fosters life and activity on a new urban development.

Philadelphia, USA

This apartment building is located in a new urban development. It is in the corner of a pedestrian street which leads to a communal public plaza. In terms of style and material, the building is made of stone on the first two floors, and then continues in brick, characteristic of Philadelphia. The corner turret-like bay window helps establish the corner as an entrance, and balances the facade composition and spacing. Lastly, the whole building is covered in Crittall style windows, also characteristic of Philadelphia.

The building is essentially divided into two different apartment buildings, with an entrance from the street, and the other entrance from the public plaza. The building is mixed-use, so it offers a space for retail on the street side, and a restaurant on the plaza side. Both of these apartment-building entrances lead to a vertical core, which enables access to the rest of the floors. Each floor has different apartment types, suitable for a diverse group of inhabitants.

As mentioned, the building is next to the entrance of an inner public plaza. The pedestrian street that leads to this plaza is Ginko Street. On this elevation, the building features an archway towards a semi-public courtyard. In the androne for the courtyard, residents can find several amenities like mail room and storage. The courtyard is then lined by a loggia. The facade on Ginko, is essentially the same as the main facade, but with subtle extrusions and setbacks which provide rhythm and indicate where one apartment ends and the other begins in plan.