First LEED-H Platinum duplex residences in the U.S.A.

This eight unit residential project explores the highly efficient and architecturally latent potentials hidden within the traditional form of the Philadelphia “Row” home. The vertical rhythm, regularity yet diversity of this most prevalent residential urban typology was the primary source of inspiration for this experiment. Thin faces fronting both Laurel and Pollard Streets mask and blur conventional lines of demarcation between all eight duplex dwellings both vertically and horizontally. In the process, a degree of density yet expansiveness uncommon to the thin space of the urban duplex emerges.  The Philadelphia “Row” is by nature a long, thin slice of dense, sustainable, urban space, typically ‘light-deficient’ and insular at its core. Thin Flats questions this traditional ‘deficiency’ by spatially reconfiguring the relationship between the interior and it’s skin such that its ‘core’ is flooded with light and air. This skin also affords each room on the ‘periphery’ of the dwelling the ability to step outside, and yet remain within the skin.

View of south façade (Images Courtesy Mariko Reed)

• Architect: Plumbob Llc.
• Architect Names : Tim McDonald, Howard Steinberg, Jim Sanderson
• Name of Project: THIN FLATS
• Location: Northern Liberties, Philadelphia
• Owner / Developer: Onion Flats
• Structural Engineer: AEC (Associated Engineering Consultants Inc.)
• Green Roof & Rainwater Harvesting: G.R.A.S.S. (Green Roots And Solar Systems)
• General Contractor: JIG Inc (Project Manager Kurt Schlenbaker)
• LEED Rater: Magrann Assoc. (Sam Klein)
• Photo Credits: Mariko Reed, Sam Oberter, Tim McDonald

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