Venice Island Wins Groundbreaker Award
published October 30, 2015
The Venice Island Transformation was one of three finalists to win a 2015 Groundbreaker Award from the Delaware Valley Green Building Council. Brandywine Realty Trust’s Cira Green and The Challenge Program’s Construction Training and Education Center were the evening’s other two winners. BKP congratulates its teammates, the other winning teams, and the other finalists.
“By working together, we created something better than each of our individual parts,” said BKP Principal Joseph Powell, AIA, LEED AP, who led design of the Venice Island Performing Arts & Recreation Center.
The Groundbreaker Awards celebrate transformative leadership in the green building community and industry. DVGBC recognizes projects that are moving the market, impacting the region, and influencing others to do the same around the corner or around the world.
The comprehensive Venice Island Revitalization project included the performing arts center designed by BKP, the sewer basin reconstruction and infrastructure improvements by Hazen and Sawyer, and site master planning and high performing landscape design by Andropogon. The project revitalized an abandoned, flood-prone site into a vibrant community space. Venice Island represents a shining example of design and construction teammates and city agencies working together for the benefit of the environment and community. From the green-roofed pumping station to the solar-powered site lighting to the high-tech glazing on the arts center, Venice Island is greater than the sum of its parts. The project is emblematic of the City of Philadelphia and Philadelphia Water’s commitment to sustainable design and to making places that balance functional and environmental goals.
