Earlier this month, Philly YIMBY shared several renderings for a four-story, 61-unit mixed-use development planned at 3618-32 Haverford Avenue in Mantua, West Philadelphia. Designed by Harman Deutsch Ohler Architecture (HDO Architecture) and developed by The HOW Group, the building will rise 45 feet tall, span 60,280 square feet, and offer ground-floor commercial space, two elevators, tenant storage, parking for 22 bicycles, outdoor landscaped space for residents, a roof deck, and a green roof. Today we share an extensive collection of renderings, plans, and diagrams for the proposed building as seen in its Civic Design Review submission.
3618-32 Haverford Avenue. Credit: Harman Deutsch Ohler Architecture via Civic Design Review
3618-32 Haverford Avenue. Credit: Harman Deutsch Ohler Architecture via Civic Design Review
3618-32 Haverford Avenue. Credit: Harman Deutsch Ohler Architecture via Civic Design Review
3618-32 Haverford Avenue. Credit: Harman Deutsch Ohler Architecture via Civic Design Review
3618-32 Haverford Avenue. Credit: Harman Deutsch Ohler Architecture via Civic Design Review
3618-32 Haverford Avenue. Credit: Harman Deutsch Ohler Architecture via Civic Design Review
3618-32 Haverford Avenue. Credit: Harman Deutsch Ohler Architecture via Civic Design Review
3618-32 Haverford Avenue. Credit: Harman Deutsch Ohler Architecture via Civic Design Review
3618-32 Haverford Avenue. Credit: Harman Deutsch Ohler Architecture via Civic Design Review
The project, situated in the CMX-2 (Neighborhood Commercial Mixed-Use) district, will span a T-shaped, 20,230-square-foot through-block lot between Haverford Avenue and Brandywine Street. The structure will consist of two connected masses aligned with either street, with a pair of green courtyards in between. Commercial space will open onto Haverford Avenue.
The Haverford Avenue exterior is rather simple yet attractive, with a red brick facade enclosing vertical bays of beige fiber-cement panels, tall windows, and balconies. The rest of the facades will be decidedly more somber, where, aside from the ground floor along Brandywine Street, they will be covered entirely in dark gray, almost black, horizontal hardie plank lap siding.
3618-32 Haverford Avenue. Credit: Harman Deutsch Ohler Architecture via Civic Design Review
3618-32 Haverford Avenue. Credit: Harman Deutsch Ohler Architecture via Civic Design Review
3618-32 Haverford Avenue. Credit: Harman Deutsch Ohler Architecture via Civic Design Review
3618-32 Haverford Avenue. Credit: Harman Deutsch Ohler Architecture via Civic Design Review
3618-32 Haverford Avenue. Credit: Harman Deutsch Ohler Architecture via Civic Design Review
3618-32 Haverford Avenue. Credit: Harman Deutsch Ohler Architecture via Civic Design Review
3618-32 Haverford Avenue. Credit: Harman Deutsch Ohler Architecture via Civic Design Review
3618-32 Haverford Avenue. Credit: Harman Deutsch Ohler Architecture via Civic Design Review
3618-32 Haverford Avenue. Credit: Harman Deutsch Ohler Architecture via Civic Design Review
3618-32 Haverford Avenue. Credit: Harman Deutsch Ohler Architecture via Civic Design Review
Units will feature from one to three bedrooms, and some will be bi-level maisonettes that span from the basement to the ground floor. Worryingly, nearly a third of the units will feature what appear to be windowless bedrooms. We are puzzled as to how the development team may classify such rooms as bedrooms, as bedrooms that do not have windows that face directly outside are prohibited in Pennsylvania.
On the other hand, we would like to commend the development team for their near-total planting coverage of the roof, which will reduce the heat island effect and rainwater runoff, provide a habitat for local birds, and help lower heating and cooling costs via increased insulation.
3618-32 Haverford Avenue. Credit: Harman Deutsch Ohler Architecture via Civic Design Review
3618-32 Haverford Avenue. Credit: Harman Deutsch Ohler Architecture via Civic Design Review
3618-32 Haverford Avenue. Credit: Harman Deutsch Ohler Architecture via Civic Design Review
3618-32 Haverford Avenue. Credit: Harman Deutsch Ohler Architecture via Civic Design Review
3618-32 Haverford Avenue. Credit: Harman Deutsch Ohler Architecture via Civic Design Review
With the exception of the troubling issue of windowless bedrooms, the development promises to bring much-needed housing stock to Mantua, a neighborhood that is experiencing rapid development in great part due to its proximity to University City and Center City. Another significant development, called Village Square on Haverford, is poised to rise across the street to the north at 3611 Haverford Avenue.
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