EASTERN STATE PENITENTIARY - SPACE UTILIZATION STUDY

CLIENT
Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site, Inc.

LOCATION
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

STRUCTURE
Opened in 1829 as part of a controversial movement to change the behavior of inmates through "confinement in solitude with labor," the massive stone structure became one of the most expensive and most copied buildings in America.  More than 300 prisons worldwide are based on the Penitentiary's radial or "wagon-wheel" floor plan.

CHALLENGE
A master plan was needed for future programming and for spatial needs within the site. Cataloguing current usage and conditions for the different areas within the walls was needed as well. The expediency of the study was mandated by the client’s desire to expand programming while continuing to preserve this historic landmark.

SCOPE OF SERVICE
  • Focus the study on spaces throughout the site considered amenable to future programming. 
  • Examine each building and structural space, and devise a set of criteria for evaluating each of them for future planning opportunities. 
  • Catalogue all of the spaces and analyze the site according to the client’s programming wish list.
  • Integrate the information into multiple time and money-based options or scenarios, organize into matrices, and evaluate phasing finances and work over time in order to merge spatial-use options with facility driven maintenance demands.
SOLUTION
  • Report our findings during Phase I, detailing the data collected and our analysis of potential uses of the spaces.
  • Report our findings during Phase II, which synthesized potential uses and programming wish lists with the spatial conditions matrices and budgetary timelines. 
HISTORIC STATUS
Eastern State Penitentiary is a National Historic Landmark and is under consideration for a World Heritage Site nomination.