THE STUDY
This 200-room boutique hotel inhabits the prominent intersection of 33rd and Chestnut Streets on the campus of Drexel University and adjacent to the University of Pennsylvania. The 10-story structure anchors an emerging commercial corridor at the juncture of two of the city’s largest academic institutions.
The urban site is impacted by significant infrastructure and transit below grade and provides an opportunity for the development of outdoor seating terraces and gardens along these heavily traveled streets. Studio|Bryan Hnanes developed the landscape and streetscape portions of the project in addition to multiple levels of green roof.
The Franklinia garden that holds the corner at Chestnut Street addresses the Owner’s desire for intensely formal landscape gestures with strong connections to the history and culture of the place. The formal boxwood hedges are arranged to represent the flowers of the Franklinia tree, a species discovered by John Bartram and widely celebrated at Bartram’s Garden, another of the neighborhood’s notable institutions.
Location: Philadelphia, PA
Architecture: DIGSAU