Dominic Martino

Class: Comprehensive Architectural Design Studio

Professors: Robert Shuman & Fauzia Sadiq Garcia

Semester: Spring 2019

Program: Community Center

Location: 1301 Diamond Street, Philadelphia, PA

Located on an urban edge between the Temple University campus and a North Philadelphia neighborhood, the Diamond Community Center seeks to bridge these two colliding areas. In the spirit of unity and invitation, a diagonal atrium extends off of Temple’s Liacouras Walk and links it to the eastern entrance of the high school to the north of the site, working with existing circulation paths. Taking advantage of an empty, run-down lot as well as Park Street, which has been unrecognized as a street by the City of Philadelphia, a paved extension of Liacouras Walk is also proposed, merging in pedestrians from the campus as well as Broad Street. Adjacent to the path is a new parking lot as well as a new greenspace.

Furthermore, with the goal of meeting the Architecture 2030 energy standard, the building utilizes several sustainable design practices. Perhaps most notably, the proposal features a building-integrated photovoltaic array for which the spine has been rotated at a 30-degree angle to the East-West axis of Philadelphia’s city grid. The sawtooth roof serves as an integrated approach to orient the panels for optimal collection of solar energy as well as to let in diffuse light from the north. It is both a diagrammatic statement as well a functional element, facilitating circulation and cultivating community.