Mill Creek Crossing
A proposal for the adaptive reuse of the former USciences campus in West Philadelphia, at the mouth of the long-lost Mill Creek.
- Team
- Caitlin Rice and David Ramos
- Role
- Site analysis, mapping, historical research, design development, modeling (Rhino, Grasshopper, LandKit) and rendering
- Client
- Speculative project
- Course
- Graduate Studio III, UMD Landscape Architecture
- Instructor
- Dr. Boyoung Park
Existing conditions
Layers of activity. A window at 43rd and Chester, across from Clark Park.
The low point of the site, with a sewage lift station at left. Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor runs on an embankment, blocking views of the river.
Former service and repair buildings.
A wall built of Wissahickon schist, up the hill at the Woodlands Cemetery.
Conceptual design
Concept A: Listen to the Valley. Create a new greenway along the line of the former Mill Creek, building new rainwater infrastructure and improving pedestrian and bike links. Build new, denser, market-rate and affordable housing on the USciences site, clustered around a wetland park.
Concept B: The Edge of a Rowhouse City. Add new homes, emphasizing rowhouses and four-plex and six-plex designs, with an eye toward creating a community where residents can age in place. Insert a series of marshes, slow-flowing streams, and fish ponds into a park at the center of the site. A footbridge connects the neighborhood to a park hidden away between the SEPTA Regional Rail line and Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor, where visitors can watch trains go by and look at activity on the river.
Concept C: Atlantic Flyway. The East Coast cities sit directly on some of the most important wildlife habitat in the world, on marshes that once provided food and shelter for migrating birds. The low ground at the mouth of Mill Creek, which from the historical evidence appears to have moved and meandered, can provide a logic for new habitat in a vital place. Retain the best of the existing buildings and add new ones, with a mix of retail, small stores, local services, and homes.
Proposed master plan
This master plan rebuilds the old campus into a new park and neighborhood center. It creates a new park that recalls the buried Mill Creek; adapts buildings for retail, science and education, and housing; and improves connections to the river and with nearby neighborhoods.
A stream flows through the center of the site.
Blue-green infrastructure pulls water from throughout the neighborhood and allows it to flow through a series of ponds, riffles, and wetlands that echo the long-lost Mill Creek. The design aims for a functioning ecosystem, characterized by areas of riparian forest, meadow, marsh, and open water, managed to work like their wilder models, though adapted for the smaller site.
Wildlife habitat.
Movement of water. (Diagram by Caitlin Rice.)
A switchback links the park with the West Shore neighborhood, some 50 feet up a steep bank. A nature playground fits into the space between ramps. The rest of the space is managed as an expanse of meadow.
(Diagram by Caitlin Rice.)
A bridge and observation deck crosses the rail lines, connecting the site with the river and embracing the rhythm of trains on the Northeast Corridor. Other paths connect with the Schuylkill River trail system, the West Shore neighborhood, and improved bike and pedestrian routes along Woodland Ave.
A bosquet and grassy steps provide a space for gathering and for performances. Larger events can flow into and out of the adjacent recreation center.