Program Narrative Outline

Program types currently under investigation:
Commemorative Railroad Muesum
Anthracite Museum
Museum of Industrialization
Community center
Secondary school
Community art center

Needs of the public/population
Public/open space
Cultural identity
Historical identity
Reclaiming of old sites
Maintenance of history
Bridging of site
Acknowledgment of site as the former heartbeat of the city

Groups of people
Large immigrant and minority population
High poverty levels
Generations of families
Reading residents
Tourists
Educational facilities/students

Influences
Anthracite region
History of railroad and uses
History of Reading and Northern PA
Center of transport hub
Legacy as industrial giant
Coal and passenger lines
Corruption
Greed
Abandonment
Wealth
Poverty
Industrialization
Decline
Working conditions

Investigations
Communication between buildings on the site
Built forms and voids
Surrounding areas of the city
User/laborer/pedestrian activities
Historical forms
Vernacular
Benefits to local area
Tourism increase
Boost in economy
Redevelopment of land
Investment opportunities

Other programmatic possibilities
Large scale art center/recreation system
Large site provides for large installations (i.e. Reichstag) that
will cover up various areas of the site for given periods of time, thus covering the stain and hardships resulting from the recession of the railroad boom
Uncovering/removal of installations and temporary architecture
can show continual rebirth of the site and its elements/features and buildings
Changing of the installations will provide continual variations in
the site and its overall forms as a metaphor to parallel the continual changing, and eventual removal of the Reading Railroad itself

Can also provide for a bridging of the site to connect the two
somewhat disparate sides and create a communication on an otherwise silent site

Case studies
Reichstag wrapping; Christo
Is something more present when it all of a sudden disappears?

Reminder of a failure (can be implemented on to
Reading Railroad)

Wallpaper used to cover the cracks of damaged government and
or society; removal of the wrapping symbolize the rebirth or re-emergence of of the structure and its society
Dramatic, sudden alterations of existing structures with their
own previously established identities draw new attention from users and provide a new vision on an old, possibly abused site

Red Trevi Fountain
Another case of a sudden/dramatic alteration gaining the
attention of the many local residents

The Sands Bethworks
Adaptive reuse of the Bethlehem Steel site including mixed use
facilites; commercial, casino, residential etc. using the
language and existing elements of the site infused with
the rich history and influence of Bethlehem Steel

Steamtown, Scranton PA

Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art

North Philadelphia