Penn’s Landing, Pylon, City of Philadelphia

A pedestrian directional system was needed for a long, narrow 37-acre site which would accommodate 10 years of development with its essential design unchanged, and which would not impede pedestrian circulation or create a hazard along the site’s esplanade and other public spaces. A pylon with an extremely small footprint was designed, banded into informational zones: illuminated site symbol; directions to adjacent resources; map; and mandatories. All pylons are placed within the site oriented the same way, so that the user looks at the map facing either north or south. Maps facing north are south-up, and maps facing south are north-up, so the direction in which the user is facing is always at the top of the map. Orientation is reinforced by a night-illuminated wavy water’s edge on the map, which always faces the river. The map accommodates future modification by indicating all resources on the map—whether ship, restaurant, or large building—by a dot of uniform size; this permits adhesive or silk-screened additions up to the completion of the project, at which point all map panels can be uniformly produced and replaced.