1200 Intrepid

Project Details

Project Name: 1200 Intrepid

Location: Philadelphia ,
PA

Architect: Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG)

Client/Owner: Liberty Property Trust & Synterra Partners

Project Types: Office

Project Scope: New Construction

Size: 94,000 sq. feet

Shared by: Selin Ashaboglu

Team: Bjarke Ingels, Thomas Christoffersen, Beat Schnek, Sören Grünert, David Brown Brandon Cook, Michelle Stromsta, Annette Miller, Aran Coakley, Armen Menendian, Douglass Alligood, Natalie Kwee, Peter Lee, Taylor Hewett, Terry Lallak, Thomas Fagan, and Thea Sofie Gassenholm

Consultants: Environetics,

In-Posse,

LRSLA,

Pennoni,
Other: RE:Vision

Project Status: On the Boards/In Progress

By Selin Ashaboglu

Project Description

UPDATED TEXT (Nov. 2, 2016):

The 92,000-square-foot office building at 1200 Intrepid Avenue is located at the Navy Yard Corporate Center, a master-planned development within the Philadelphia Navy Yard. Situated between the Navy Yard’s basin and the award-winning Central Green Park designed by James Corner Field Operations, the four-story building inherits features from the circular park and Navy Yard master plan, as well as from the curved bows of the battleships docked a few blocks away. Penn Capital occupies 26,000 square-feet of the building’s top floor. The remaining space is still available for lease by Liberty Property Trust.

“1200 Intrepid now stands among the many uniquely designed buildings at the Navy Yard, and has been very well received by prospective customers,” said Brian Cohen, Vice President and city manager for building owner and developer, Liberty Property Trust. “BIG’s beautiful and thoughtful design provides its occupants a high performance and progressive work environment in a building which offers spectacular views and engages with Central Green Park. We are very excited to offer such an exceptional building in the marketplace for companies looking to relocate to the Navy Yard.”

Curved around the street on ground level, 1200 Intrepid’s front façade is created by the strategic stacking of High Concrete’s precast panels of varying sizes, figured in a basket-weave pattern to realize the top of the building’s straight edge. As the panels reach upward they also tilt outward, creating an inviting, cave-like canopy over the building’s front sidewalk. Each of the building’s other three sides stand straight up, maintaining the structure’s signature paneling.

In honor of the Navy Yard’s maritime history, 1200 Intrepid’s lobby features a periscope through which building tenants and visitors are offered a view of the ships docked in the water nearby. The building’s center is open all the way through to allow for maximum light exposure to each center-bordering office, and to represent an office-wide unity while maintaining each individual space’s privacy.

“In many cases, architects design big, boxy buildings that could be placed anywhere and don’t connect directly to the site. You would really be hard-pressed to place 1200 Intrepid anywhere else, due to how it connects with its surroundings. Our commission involved creating a speculative office building, for which no tenants were committed. The key challenge here was to create a reason for tenants to be here with the constraint of a stringent budget”, Kai-Uwe Bergmann, AIA, RIBA, Partner, BIG.

The building has received LEED® Gold certification. Its precast concrete panels helped reach this goal by enhancing energy efficiency through their dense mass. High Concrete’s panels employ a variety of manufacturing benefits, including local manufacture using locally sourced materials, the use of recycled and recyclable content, and the reduction of construction waste.

FROM THE ARCHITECT (June 30, 2015):

Philadelphia, PA – Liberty Property Trust, which owns and manages more than 17 million square feet of office, flex and industrial space in the Greater Philadelphia region, together with its joint venture partner Synterra Partners, broke ground today on a 94,000 square foot office building, the first in Philadelphia to be designed by the world-renowned Bjarke Ingels Group. The event also featured a ribbon cutting ceremony officially opening the adjacent five-acre park, Central Green, developed in a joint investment by Liberty Property/Synterra, PIDC and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Central Green was designed by James Corner Field Operations, landscape architect whose notable projects include Philadelphia’s Race Street Pier and New York City’s High Line.

“Today as we break ground on 1200 Intrepid and cut the ribbon on Central Green, we are redefining the intersection of work and play,” said John Gattuso, Liberty Property Trust senior vice president and regional director, at today’s ceremony. ““With the help of two extremely talented design teams, we further advance the reality of The Navy Yard as one of the most compelling work environments in the Philadelphia region. Increasingly, The Navy Yard is a place where employees want to work and businesses from around the world want to call home.”

Today’s celebration marks two impressive additions to The Navy Yard and kicks off a new block of development at the campus. The groundbreaking at 1200 Intrepid Avenue is the fourteenth building Liberty has developed at The Navy Yard representing 1.35 million square feet. The speculative development will offer 94,000 square feet of trophy quality office space, in a one-of-a-kind setting at The Navy Yard, which continues to attract companies to Philadelphia from around the world. The Navy Yard is currently home to more than 11,500 employees and 145 companies occupying 7.0 million square feet of real estate.

“With the addition of the beautiful Central Green and the new office space at 1200 Intrepid, the Philadelphia Navy Yard continues to go from strength to strength,” said Mayor Michael A. Nutter. “This unique environment has been transformed from a closed military facility to one of the nation’s leading places to work, creating even more reasons for innovative companies from around the world to move to Philadelphia.”

With the opening of Central Green The Navy Yard adds its sixth park to the campus. The public event following the ribbon cutting highlighted the park’s unique, sustainable and social environment. Visitors and Navy Yard employees enjoyed the gourmet food trucks, listened to the music of District Blue, a local Philadelphia band, on the sunlawn, walked the track, took part in table tennis and bocce contests, enjoyed a yoga class on the lawn, viewed a demonstration from wellness experts on the use of the park’s special TRX® fitness apparatus, or lounged in a hammock or on one of the park’s many chaise lounges.

John Grady, President of PIDC said, “We are thrilled to join with our partners today to officially open this new park and break ground on the next great addition to The Navy Yard’s expanding office campus. The Navy Yard is one of the region’s most vibrant and progressive business locations, and Central Green is the perfect sustainable amenity to match the active workplace activities that surround it.”