Huntingdon Mills
2020 / Philadelphia, PA
HERITAGE THREADS
Philadelphia’s urban fabric developed as a blend of industrial production and residential neighborhoods, often sharing the same blocks. When industry moved away from the urban core in the mid-twentieth century, it left behind large vacant and underutilized buildings that negatively impacted the surrounding housing. As the city has welcomed new populations back to the urban core, vacant industrial buildings have played a key role in reactivating the city. This adaptive reuse of a former textile and yarn mill in Kensington provides attainable and healthy housing for the neighborhood and healthcare community. The massing frames a landscaped courtyard across the street from a public skatepark and playground popular with children and teens, linking residents and tenants with the surrounding community.
STRATEGIC RE-USE
The pair of existing buildings on the site — one five stories of concrete frame and the other three stories of load-bearing masonry and heavy timber — invited a strategic approach to adaptive reuse at multiple scales. Apartments in the concrete structure are discounted for healthcare workers, and the timber-framed structure houses a daycare, offices, and other uses fostering healthy neighborhoods. The addition substantially enhanced the accessibility of the existing complex, and framed the courtyard on three sides.
LOFTY INTERIORS
The robust frame and massive window openings of the concrete building inspired a measured approach to new construction within each unit. With unit demising walls anchored to the divisions between windows, a room within a room was created with a free-standing volume providing kitchen, bathroom, sleeping space and mechanicals, as well as an upper platform for storage. The building’s prior identity was incorporated in the common areas, with a color palette for corridor floor identity based on traditional thread dyes and a webbed wall graphic in the lobby.
