Neighborhood Design Challenge
Solutions for Center City Reading

Design Focus:
9TH and 10TH Street – along Penn Street Preserving Reading’s rich history – Restore and Renovate building facades. Connecting to the park – Improving Pedestrian and Vehicular access to the Park.
Historic Colors and Landscaping.

Reading Penn Street Corridor Study

AIA Center for Communities by Design’s “Ten Principal of Livability”

Design Challenge Results

AIA 150 – Blueprint for America

Reading Penn Street Corridor Study
Presentation by Mark Dawson, ASLA, Sasaki Associates

On Saturday, September 22, 2007, The American Institute of Architects Eastern Pennsylvania Chapter held the “Neighborhood Design Challenge” starting with a presentation in the theater at the GoggleWorks, Reading, Pennsylvania. Mr. Mark Dawson, ASLA, presented a one hour slide show to the AIA Eastern Pennsylvania chapter architects and to local residents outlining the Sasaki Associates study of the Penn Street Corridor, Reading, Pennsylvania. Mr. Dawson is a registered landscape architect with over twenty-four years of professional experience in a wide variety of project types, including urban mixed use developments, brownfield property redevelopment, campus and university designs, waterfront parks and tourism planning. Sasaki’s focus for the Reading Penn Street Corridor project is to create and develop a regional design that integrates a public process. The slide presentation opened with a historical look at Reading’s roots emphasizing the connected neighborhood districts and major geographical assets of the region. The Schuylkill River provides a great natural resource and yet divides the center city area from the West Reading area.

A major problem facing Reading is that the traditional downtown has been unable to attract a critical mass of new business investment and unable to draw shoppers who come to the well-known retail outlets on the outskirts of the city. Since these retail shops are not within easy walking distances of Reading’s downtown area, they are not connected or associated with the center of the city. Furthermore, a redevelopment failure of the 1960s and 70s in the central business district has resulted in the proliferation of vacant lots and the general demise of the downtown retail district. There are several current projects that are revitalizing the downtown area including: the renovation and expansion of City Hall, a new Berks County services building, and a facelift for Penn Square and its reopening Penn Street to traffic. However, the problem of attracting new business and shoppers to downtown still remains. The question is how you close the physical gap and overcome the perception of crime on the eastside of the river. Mr. Dawson presented several options to close the gap and improve the public access image recommending the creation of a new gateway to the downtown; reconstruct Route 422 removing its 1960 clover leaf on/off ramps that create a wide separation and disconnect between west side and eastside of the river. Sasaki’s study recommends a diamond interchange decreasing the distance between route 422 traffic artery and the Penn Street Bridge. Sasaki’s study recommends incorporating a signature gateway at the intersection of Penn Street and Route 422 to reinforce the public’s arrival to the city; and lighting the Penn Street Bridge to emphasize its design and structure as an asset to the city. The compressed traffic pattern will also shorten the walking distance between commercial districts. A walking distance of 5 minutes is the typical maximum distance people are willing to walk to accomplish a task. If the walking distance is more than 5 minutes and most of us want to ride or we will not make the trip. The Penn Corridor stretches several miles from the easternmost end at the city park below the Pagoda through downtown Reading and continues across the bridge through the heart of West Reading’s restaurant - retail district and ultimately on to the Wyomissing district including the Outlets, the Reading Museum.

The Sasaki study recommends establishing a public transportation connection between the downtown area and the outlets. The city could pursue the creation of a transit center near the city center. A transit center could have a link via the existing railroad right-of-way to the outlet areas with either a bus or trolley system providing a direct link between the downtown to the outlet district and all businesses in between. The use of a local public transportation system is vital to connecting the east with the west side of the Reading commerce region. Crime is best combated with prosperity. Prosperity will happen if the Reading area can get past a critical point where investors can quantify the market viability. Once that happens investors will return to downtown Reading as there is a great opportunity to strengthen the regions competitive position in the marketplace by taping into the Philadelphia region. Located only 55 miles northwest of Center City Philadelphia, Reading has easy access to the established roads, rail, and air transportation systems of the northeastern corridors. This strategic location affords Reading an opportunity to not only promote its own economic and industrial markets, but also tap the resources of other industrial and agricultural bases throughout the northeast corridor. Sasaki acknowledged that although a light rail system would be like giving the regions business market a blood transfusion it is a fiscally unlikely to happen in the near future without market justification. Redevelopment is all about the business market justification. Once new business investments can be justified by the market and the market swing begins, Mr. Dawson stressed that the design must endure over time and must be able to sustain the demands put upon them as the public enjoys and uses these spaces. The solution must be innovative, creative, sustainable, and grounded in fundamental ecological principals that will last and be enjoyed by the public for a lifetime.

Eastern Pennsylvania Chapter is very grateful to Sasaki Associates and especially to Mark Dawson, ASLA for taking his time out of his busy schedule to join us helping make the Reading Penn Street Neighborhood design charette a success as part of The American Institute of Architects 150 year anniversary celebration.

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AIA Center for Communities by Design’s
“Ten Principal of Livability”

1. Design on a Human Scale
   Compact, pedestrian-friendly communities allow residents to walk to shops, services, cultural resources, and jobs and can reduce traffic congestion and benefit people's health.
2. Provide Choices
   People want variety in housing, shopping, recreation, transportation, and employment. Variety creates lively neighborhoods and accommodates residents in different stages of their lives.
3. Encourage Mixed-Use Development
   Integrating different land uses and varied building types creates vibrant, pedestrian-friendly and diverse communities.
4. Preserve Urban Centers
   Restoring, revitalizing, and infilling urban centers takes advantage of existing streets, services and buildings and avoids the need for new infrastructure. This helps to curb sprawl and promote stability for city neighborhoods.
5. Vary Transportation Options
   Giving people the option of walking, biking and using public transit, in addition to driving, reduces traffic congestion, protects the environment and encourages physical activity. Note: Reopening Reading’s passenger rail service to and from Philadelphia will draw out of town investment to Reading; Furthermore, providing a continuously running trolley service with multiple stops from the West Reading outlet malls to City Park and back – will draw local people to East Reading
6. Build Vibrant Public Spaces
   Citizens need welcoming, well-defined public places to stimulate face-to-face interaction, collectively celebrate and mourn, encourage civic participation, admire public art, and gather for public events.
7. Create a Neighborhood Identity
   A "sense of place" gives neighborhoods a unique character, enhances the walking environment, and creates pride in the community.
8. Protect Environmental Resources
   A well-designed balance of nature and development preserves natural systems, protects waterways from pollution, reduces air pollution, and protects property values.
9. Conserve Landscapes
   Open space, farms, and wildlife habitat are essential for environmental, recreational, and cultural reasons. Note: Conserving landscapes begins by revitalizing town centers, drawing population back to the town, and reducing sprawl.
10. Design Matters
    Design excellence is the foundation of successful and healthy communities.
    

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Design Challenge Results
On Saturday, September 22, 2007, The American Institute of Architects Eastern Pennsylvania Chapter held the “Neighborhood Design Challenge” charette workshop at the Goggleworks in Reading, Pennsylvania. Local residents and architects participated in the design process by dividing into two groups, each charged with creating a set of ideas and solutions to study the following design challenge: First, design a more attractive streetscape for the 900 block of Penn Street. Second, create a safer crossing and entrance to City Park at the intersection of 11th Street, Penn Street, and Perkiomen Avenue. Third, identify specific building facades which need repair or restoration as a high priority. Finally, select an exterior painting color scheme for facade restoration. AIA Eastern Pennsylvania Chapter provided materials to facilitate the process, including trace paper, markers, pencils, scaled block plans, façade photos keyed to locations on the block plans, aerial photographs, and elements drawn to scale, such as cars and trees.

Team #1: One Way Versus Two Way
Team #1, “One Way Versus Two Way”, consolidated from the following members: Judy Ciervo, Beverly Puriefoy, Ron Shaffer, Howard Quaintance, Tom Kisling, Anita Donatelli, Jim Washington, John Hill, and Gene Berg.

The first group titled themselves “One Way Versus Two Way” because they could not reach a consensus on the most appropriate response to traffic flow in the 900 and 1000 blocks of Penn Street. However, they engaged in constructive dialog to study the conversion of the 9th through 11th Street blocks of Penn Street to a one way street, traveling east in the direction of the park, to create a safer intersection at the park pedestrian crossing. Nonetheless, the group could not agree on an appropriate method of rerouting the traffic to avoid congestion. Conversely, the present two-way Penn Street brings more traffic and exposure to businesses in the 900 block of Penn Street.

The group noted that the 1000 block of Penn Street is essentially residential; there are very few commercial properties in this block. A new senior housing building sits on the southwest corner of 11th and Penn Streets. New architecturally sensitive townhouses have been constructed in the middle of the 1000 block on the south side of Penn Street. A store anchors the northeast corner of 10th and Penn. A vacant lot divides the center of the 1000 block of Penn Street on the north side. Because of its residential nature, lack of parking poses a major issue for this neighborhood. Barely one car can park in front of each property, yet each property may house several families. The Perkiomen Avenue block, adjacent to the park, contains buildings on only one side of the street. Nonetheless, the Perkiomen Avenue block suffers from a similar lack of parking. Therefore, the group “One Way Versus Two Way” prioritized providing additional parking in their proposed design.

This group planned to take the vacant lot which bisects the 1000 block and develop it into a new parking area. The first 20-foot portion of the vacant lot closest to Penn Street would be landscaped with buffer strips to screen the view of the parking lot from Penn Street. Entrance to the parking area would be one-way off of Penn Street, flowing in the direction of Court Street to the north.

The group “One Way Versus Two Way” also concentrated upon creating a more pedestrian-friendly street crossing to City Park, as well as revitalizing the access to City Park itself. The group investigated widening the sidewalks and narrowing the street, a typical safe street crossing approach. Perkiomen Street slopes down steeply in elevation as it approaches the intersection at 11th, Penn, and Perkiomen Streets. In snowy or icy weather, cars sometimes slide into the northwest corner of the intersection at Dan’s Restaurant, down this steep grade. Therefore, by narrowing or bottlenecking the crossings and by providing textured paving materials at the cross walks, the group intended to slow the cars down to create a safer intersection. Significant architectural elements, such as obelisks or monuments, would mark the four corners of the intersection. These monuments would hold temporary banners over the street during city events and holidays, further celebrating the entrance to the City Park and to Reading itself. Street trees would line the intersection, creating a “tree alley” approach to the park. A sidewalk café with street trees on a widened sidewalk would activate the entire Penn Street frontage of Dan’s Restaurant on the northwest corner of the intersection.

Historically, a stone staircase provided access to the park from this intersection, but the original staircase was demolished when the firemen’s monument was changed. The group decided to restore and replace the historic stone staircase access to the City Park, which sits at a higher elevation. Incorporating these design ideas would dignify, revitalize, and resurrect the primary Reading Penn Street Corridor entrance to the park.

The group identified facades on the south side of the 900 block of Penn Street which need repair and restoration. A Japanese-style storefront as well as two other facades contain upper floors with missing window sashes. Restore the missing windows with the same size and style of windows. This will preserve the architectural integrity of the facades and prevent weather intrusion into the buildings. Weather intrusion results in wood rot, building deterioration, and eventually, building collapse. Open up bricked-in second story windows, and re-occupy the second floors. A one-story brick arch façade building needs a second story addition to maintain the streetscape scale. Remove plywood and afterthought mansard roofs to expose and restore historic storefronts, prismatic glass transoms, bulkheads, and cornice details. Transoms bring natural light deep back into the stores, and they increase the exposed area of the storefront to the street, thereby making the storefronts and their wares more visible and marketable from the street. Remove paint from brick and stone masonry to expose the true nature of these materials.

Extending the Penn’s Common National Historic District one block further west to 9th Street would provide historic district façade grant incentives to the building owners, encouraging revitalization. Furthermore, the City of Reading Building Department needs to place pressure on building owners to comply with building and property maintenance codes. The Reading Zoning Department should rewrite the sign ordinance for this area to require historically appropriate, carved and painted wood signs with exterior illumination to maintain the character of the neighborhood. A vacant lot centered on the south side of the 900 block of Penn Street could take new life as an outdoor café with seating, landscaping, and a park-like setting. The blank party wall adjacent to this cafe lot provides the canvas for a new painted or mosaic tile mural. The blue-corniced building directly to the west of the lot could house the interior restaurant serving the café.

The group’s color selections for façade restoration consisted of Sherwyn Williams’ SW2802 Rockwood Red for the door panels, SW2813 Downing Straw in combination with SW2802 Rockwood Red for trim accents to highlight architectural details, and SW2833 Roycroft Vellum as a more neutral siding color. Rockwood Sash Green SW2810 provides an option for porch floor color. Do not paint brick and stone masonry; instead, gently strip existing paint from the masonry without sandblasting to restore them to their natural finish and original splendor.

Team #2: Urban Unification
Team #2, “Urban Unification” composed themselves from the following members: Tim Mahoney, Petritsa Chatuituva, Bill Vitale, Aaron Booth, Michael Kautter, Jan Olinick, and Neil Buantley.

The second group adopted the moniker “Urban Unification” in response to the need for the entire community to work together as a whole to improve and preserve the quality of life within urban neighborhoods. Government officials and neighborhood historic groups should educate property owners to the availability of government financial incentives, grants, or low interest loans earmarked for façade renovations. They should notify property owners to the availability of Main Street Status funding. The City of Reading Building department needs to enforce pertinent building and property maintenance codes. The City of Reading Zoning Department should revisit signage ordinances, improve the ordinances, and enforce them.

To create a safer crossing to City Park, the Urban Unification group suggested installing contrasting material, textured crosswalk paving to slow cars. Again, they recommended narrowing the streets and widening the sidewalks at the intersections.

“Urban Unification” addressed the streetscape by recommending the installation of more tightly spaced street lighting at a lower, more human scale. Remove the present high-rise widely-spaced “Cobra” style lighting fixtures. Introduce additional public garbage receptacles and recycle bins to prevent litter on the street. Surround street trees with tree wells to maintain a distinction between the tree space versus the sidewalk. This prevents tree roots from heaving sidewalk slabs. The City of Reading Arborist should furnish tree planting guidelines. “Urban Unification” recommended using mid-block vacant lots as new urban parks, playgrounds, and gardens. The streetscape as well as the 10th and Penn Elementary School playground need more garden space and green space. “Urban Unification” pointed to the Berks County Conservancy as a resource which could provide assistance with planting urban garden infill areas. The model for creation of urban gardens should emulate landscaped miniature public parks, rather than individual fenced private vegetable or flower gardens. Introduce flower boxes on facades, including on upper levels, with the cooperation of local florists. All of these efforts would improve the public image of the block and increase neighborhood morale and property values.

The “Urban Unification” group also identified that the facades on the south side of the 900 block of Penn Street were in the greatest need of repair or restoration. They recommended treating the 900 block’s existing Historic Conservation District in the same manner as the National Historic District itself, by requiring Historic Architectural Review Boards to approve color selections and design modifications within this block. Strip layers of modern affectations from retail storefronts and expose the treasured original details and transom windows which lie beneath. Remove paint from all masonry. Reserve paint for use at doors, trims, shutters, and siding only.

Finally, all of the design solutions from the Neighborhood Design Challenge provide valuable methods to improve the quality of life in the urban built environment at the City Park end of the Penn Street Corridor. The Penn Street Corridor possesses great potential as a rich, mixed-use urban corridor; a vital, pedestrian-friendly place to shop, work and reside.

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AIA 150 – Blueprint for America
A Brief Summary:

Formerly bustling centers of coal mining and steel production, the cities of Eastern Pennsylvania face common problems of economic decline and shifting urban form. AIA Eastern Pennsylvania, in collaboration with the U.S. Conference of Mayors, will engage a city, each year in a year long study to identify unique assets and challenges and develop recommendations for revitalization and sustainable, smart growth. Reading was the first city in the program for 2007 marking the AIA 150 year anniversary.

Since 1857, the AIA was established to unite the architectural community and the public, to promote government advocacy benefiting the general public and the architectural profession, and to share our architectural knowledge base.

As AIA members, over 80,000 licensed architects, emerging professionals, and allied partners express their commitment to excellence in design and livability in our nation’s buildings and communities.

Advocacy, Community, Knowledge - Members adhere to a code of ethics and professional conduct that assures the client, the public, and colleagues of an AIA-member architect’s dedication to the highest standards in professional practice.

Our mission is as follows: The AIA is the voice of the architectural profession and the resource for its members in service to society.

Blueprint for America: More than 280 AIA state and local chapters, are collaborating with local government officials and their fellow citizens to define and advocate a shared vision for healthier, safer, and more dynamic communities. Sharing basic community design principles, identifying neighborhood conditions in need of improvement, and, along the way, demonstrating the visionary role of architects in creating a better quality of life for all.

Back Story:
AIA Eastern Pennsylvania Chapter consists of the following (7) cities - Reading, Allentown, Bethlehem, Jim Thorpe/Pocono’s, Stroudsburg, Easton and Pottsville.

Most cities were steel/coal mining based and all suffer from economic depression. These same cities also enjoy a rich cultural history and architectural heritage. AIA Eastern Pennsylvania and the mayors of these cities will join together to influence the course of recent history in a positive direction. Reading, in the top twenty of dangerous cities in the United States, is the first city to participate in the initiative.

How will the initiative benefit the community? Specifically consider that initiatives should address community issues at a scale no smaller than the neighborhood and perhaps as large as a region.

Staged as a yearlong task force – the initiative shall begin at a smaller community scale addressing the needs for an overall historic understanding about their surroundings through the walking tours and an education about sustainable cities and their future during the local gatherings.

On a larger scale a cumulative task force from the community will work together on establishing where the main corridor design and façade renovation shall take and how can we make the city sustainable through use and transportation.

AIA Eastern Pennsylvania chapter members’ goal will be to connect to all age groups – for the younger generation a coloring book shall be created by the local artists and chapters’ profession containing images of local architecture with information - educating young minds about the beauty and history of Architecture as well as the connection of their own inner creativity! For the older generation the connection will be the participation of the community gatherings and design Charette.

What we did do for 2007?

In March we broadcasted our invitation over the local TV station while on air with the Local Historic sponsored show.

In April everyone gathered at the new Art and Design center ‘The Goggle Works’ in the City of Reading. The day began with a warm and welcoming greeting from the City of Reading Mayor Tom McMahon.

The audience was then educated and entertained by the famous local historian and author of 16 book volumes about Reading’s rich history and surrounding areas – Mr. George Meiser. After the presentation the Group walked from Goggle works to the City park along Penn street during the first annual Cherry Blossom festival.

Our Tour guides …
Amy Johnson, HARB (Historical Architectural Review Board of Reading)
Andrew Miller – City of Reading Planning Office

The Tour included a walk thru, of the new urban renewal city infill project – gated community condominiums by the Reading Housing Authority.
Tour concluded with a picnic in the park at the end of Penn Street on the hill overlooking the City of Reading.

The purpose of the tour was to acquaint the community with its assets as well as its problems, the initiative included lectures on sustainable cities, monthly community gatherings, and a community design workshop. The focus of the workshop was the connection between East and West Reading—a transportation and business corridor.

In September, AIA East Pennsylvania held the workshop at the Goggle Works, a center of creative thinking. The resulting master plan for the corridor, based on citizens’ vision and values, provides recommendations for renovation and reuse of buildings, transportation enhancements, and guidelines for directing growth in a productive and sustainable manner.

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Visit AIA150 for national organization information.