AMBLER YARDS
2022 / Philadelphia, PA
ON CAMPUS
Situated just outside Philadelphia along the regional rail line in Ambler, PA, this adaptive reuse project for the former BASF corporate campus encompasses 26 acres and 23 buildings totaling 284,000 SF. Targeted renovations and landscape insertions transform a varied collection of lab, office and industrial buildings dating from the 1940s through the 1980s into a cohesive, contemporary office environment. Flexible work spaces, meeting rooms and outdoor social spaces share a language of wayfinding, materials and furniture, inviting round-the-clock public use with food trucks, farmers markets, beer gardens and other local events.
LIGHT TOUCH
The project seeks to transform the site’s twentieth century industrial infrastructure into a socially connected neighborhood asset. Its history as a site of intensive chemical production was left in place as much as feasible, with infrastructural artifacts preserved and celebrated, stormwater managed through native plantings and monitoring wells installed to continually measure groundwater contaminants. The renovation of a cluster of five core buildings enhanced existing structures with new entry portals, wayfinding, landscaping, and exterior recreation zones designed in a common palette of material and color, binding together the overall campus experience.
OLD + NEW
Each existing building received a unique but related facade treatment to activate its entry experience, tailored to requirements for repair and restoration. Cutting back the parapet of the cracked CMU facade of Building 4 revealed the geometry of the existing roof profile, with new windows and Corten steel cladding highlighting its coworking programming. In addition to exterior improvements, common interiors and tenant fit-outs in several of the buildings carried the new palette inside. The interior approach highlighted raw industrial finishes and new inserts against clean white surfaces, further exposing the history of each building along with the campus as a whole.
