Historical Society of Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, PA

Studio Agoos Lovera was engaged by the Historical Society of Pennsylvania to develop a feasibility study that examined various facility options as part of their twenty year strategic plan.  This included explorations of how to accommodate the projected building program over time which includes expanded operations, growth of collections, programs analytical spaces, and staff growth.

Several options were analyzed including potential expansion upwards of the existing building, bisecting the institution and developing a satellite operation across Locust Street on an available vacant lot and moving the institution to a new, unidentified building or site within the city.  All analysis included preliminary review of zoning, building code and ADA requirements, mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and structural options and cost assessments of all options for the new systems.  From this the team developed appropriate approaches, strategies for space and program allocations, security systems infrastructure strategies and programmatic concepts to quantify the special quality of both public and internal spaces.