Designblendz Architecture & Construction

Client:

Omega Home Builders

Scope Of Work

For over 100 years, the Ridge Avenue Farmers Market was the center of the Francisville neighborhood. After it closed in the 1970s, the building remained vacant for decades. Lacking maintenance, the roof collapsed during a stormy winter in 1997. The city ordered complete demolition of the structure due to this deterioration, and the lot sat vacant for years until development on this corridor in Philadelphia started to pick up.

Currently, adjacent streets feature flat walls that go on for blocks. But being the prominent building on a corner that meets an avenue, this project called for something more exciting. Therefore, attention to façade design was a particularly essential part of the design. Bay windows and balconies make great design elements, but not enough to break monotony if they are poorly placed. By simply alternating volumetric features, the building exterior now creates a dynamic rhythm as it wraps the corner of Ridge Avenue and Ginnodo Street.

The building program consists of 24 dwelling units on floors 2 through 5 with an accessory roof top deck amenity. The ground floor and partial basement are used exclusively for a commercial tenant space with storefront windows that wrap the corner. Utilizing a steel podium design, it made sense to provide rear parking accessed by a shared driveway already available to the parcel.

This mixed-use project embodies true urban architecture that not only provides amenities to the surrounding avenue, but also housing and density essential to the urban context.