Exterior Work Wraps on Pavilion at 300 South 33rd Street in University City, West Philadelphia

After three years of construction, Pavilion, a 17-story Penn Medicine facility at 300 South 33rd Street in the hospital district of University City in West Philadelphia, is nearing completion. Designed by Foster + Partners, the steel structure stands 343 feet tall and yields 1.5 million square feet, the same amount as the Comcast Technology Center, also designed by Foster + Partners. The building will roughly double the number of hospital beds at Penn Medicine. The Pavilion rises from the former site of the 254-foot-tall, 20-story Penn Tower, completed in 1974.

Pavilion and University City from South Philadelphia. Photo by Thomas Koloski

Pavilion from Walt Whitman Bridge. Photo by Thomas Koloski

The building stands out on the University City skyline with its sleek, curved design. The structure rose out of the ground at the beginning of 2018 and topped out in April of 2019 after the two cranes lifted the final beams at the mechanical bulkhead. Since then, the cranes have been taken down, the exterior construction elevator has been removed, and the façade has been fully installed.

Pavilion from South Philadelphia. Photo by Thomas Koloski

Rows of metal cladding, capped with thicker metal bands at the bottom and the top of the main structure, were recently finished when the remaining panels at the south façade were installed following the removal of the construction elevator. The Penn Medicine logos have also been installed on the north and south sides of the top of the building, but no light features have been turned on yet at night other than the red aviation warning lights.

CHOP Hub for Clinical Collaboration and Pavilion from South Street Bridge. Photo by Thomas Koloski

Pavilion is scheduled for completion in 2021.

Subscribe to YIMBY’s daily e-mail

Follow YIMBYgram for real-time photo updates
Like YIMBY on Facebook
Follow YIMBY’s Twitter for the latest in YIMBYnews