HOME | DD

Description
Two years ago, the southwest corner of Broad and Pine Streets in Philadelphia was occupied by a parking lot (and according to Google Earth, still is.) The spot is now home to the nearly completed Symphony House complex. Symphony consists of the Suzanne Roberts Theater for the Performing Arts, several upscale restaurants, and thirty-one stories of multi-million dollar condos. Walking home from class in its shadow, I had the chance to to watch Symphony grow from a hole in the ground like a huge steel and concrete plant. Half done it was strange and even ugly, and during that time I looked forward to seeing it become more like the image on the giant poster draped from its Broad Street side. Topped off on December 4, 2006, Symphony is now much more identifiable with the image on the poster. I took this photograph a couple days after the external construction elevator was removed, revealing this gaping hole. A lone worker pauses, leaning against a temporary railing a hundred feet over Broad Street. Though the job of erecting buildings has become much safer over the years in terms of regulation, the completion of Symphony House will still have come at a cost of no less than one human life.

(Updated with new revision on 9/23/2007 at 23:53)

Description
Two years ago, the southwest corner of Broad and Pine Streets in Philadelphia was occupied by a parking lot (and according to Google Earth, still is.) The spot is now home to the nearly completed Symphony House complex. Symphony consists of the Suzanne Roberts Theater for the Performing Arts, several upscale restaurants, and thirty-one stories of multi-million dollar condos. Walking home from class in its shadow, I had the chance to to watch Symphony grow from a hole in the ground like a huge steel and concrete plant. Half done it was strange and even ugly, and during that time I looked forward to seeing it become more like the image on the giant poster draped from its Broad Street side. Topped off on December 4, 2006, Symphony is now much more identifiable with the image on the poster. I took this photograph a couple days after the external construction elevator was removed, revealing this gaping hole. A lone worker pauses, leaning against a temporary railing a hundred feet over Broad Street. Though the job of erecting buildings has become much safer over the years in terms of regulation, the completion of Symphony House will still have come at a cost of no less than one human life.

(Updated with new revision on 9/23/2007 at 23:53)