DesignPhiladelphia

October 2–13
2019
Location: Cherry Street Pier

See experimental design at its best at the renowned DesignPhiladelphia installation October 2 through October 13.

For the 15th year of DesignPhiladelphia , Cherry Street Pier will be one of TWO FestivalHubs that will celebrate design in the city! One of the newest public spaces in Philadelphia along the Delaware River waterfront, Cherry Street Pier will be filled with experiential design installations and the Best In Design showcase of innovative design solutions by local talent.

The oldest design festival of its kind in the country, DesignPhiladelphia highlights the work of thousands of local designers, architects, and creative professionals to demonstrate Philadelphia’s reemergence as a 21st-century city shaped by thoughtful design, collaborative business practices, and community engagement.

Over the course of ten days, universities, cultural institutions, civic associations, city agencies, retailers, manufacturers, and startups across the city participate in over 100 engaging events including panel discussions, fashion shows, participatory workshops, studio tours, book signings, professional development classes, design exhibitions, and imaginative celebrations.

Schedule:

Kick-Off Party
Wednesday, October 2, 5:30 pm – 9 pm
You’re invited to join the community of designers, architects, and design-savvy Philadelphians to celebrate our City’s love for design. Join us as we take over Cherry Street Pier and kickoff the 15th annual DesignPhiladelpia festival. Installations? Yep. Food and beverage? Uh-huh. Design trendsetters and experimenters? Check. Tickets to the party include light hor d’oeurves and complimentary beverages.

VIP Lounge Sponsored by Parallel Edge. All proceeds will go towards DesignPhiladelphia programming to support its mission to make Philadelphia a hub for design excellence, support economic opportunities for local designers, and demonstrate to the public the impact of design on our everyday lives. Purchase tickets!

Installations
Wednesday, October 2 through Sunday, October 13, 2019

The Paper Space 
Handpainted, small-batch wallpapers created by a team of three women with backgrounds in business, design, and fashion create the voice for The Paper Space. Carefully curated to be congenial to all aesthetics, they create and sell for consumer and the trade alike. Each paper is a unique visual process from concept to fruition with an emphasis on originality. Collaborating and producing each pattern in-house allows total control over creative freedom, with the ability to evolve and collaborate with ease. Their ultimate goal is to showcase and compliment the work and space of others.

Urban Shelter 
Newton Brown Urban Design wants to make the world a greener place by integrating and bringing solar to new heights of technological innovation and delivering all kind of sustainable solutions in Street & Site Furnishings for public spaces while providing elegant options for a better energy and environmental future in Urban Design and City Planning. Local government can lead the way to a sustainable future by setting a highly visible example for renewable energy in their communities. During Designweek Philadelphia 2019 we will showcase the basics of solar energy in a hands-on and engaging manner by inviting you to witness the solar tracking movements of the SmartFlower Solar and the power and unique use of the Smart Solar Bench Stellar. Our goal is to involve governance and communities to create and modify their sustainable environment better. Another unique project, the Urban Shelter, will be one of the highlights for us to reveal during Designweek Philadelphia 2019. Any business or governmental organization doing its part to move toward a clean energy future should be proud to demonstrate that commitment. Newton Brown Urban Design is an MBE Certified company and based in New York, NY with also a satellite office in New Jersey. We supply standard and custom items and deliver nationwide projects. We think Global and Act local.

Hemp House on Wheels 
Hemp House On Wheels (Hemp HOW) was built to showcase the applications of hemp and its adaptability to modern design and pressing sustainability issues. It was designed and built without petroleum-based products. The walls of Hemp HOW are constructed of hempcrete, or hemp-lime, a non-structural bio-composite insulation material that is cast in place around traditional wood framing. It is comprised of hemp hurds (the woody inner core of the hemp stalk), lime-based binder, and water. These simple materials come together to form a product that is mold, mildew, rot, pest and fire-resistant. Hempcrete is typically finished, with a three-coat, traditional lime-based plaster system on the inside and out.

Coscia Moos + Keast Hood
Directly inspired by the maritime history of Cherry Street Pier and the Delaware River, Coscia Moos Architecture and Keast & Hood have reinterpreted common dock and pier materials, rope and wood, to design an installation that invites interaction and exploration. Traditionally seen as a utilitarian material, rope is tautly secured in tension with the wooden structure, creating a path through the installation that references the nautilus shell’s spiral, while transforming the rope beyond its traditional use. A gradient of blue ropes simulates the experience of traveling below the water’s surface; what begins with a light blue exterior descends into a dark navy center. An open “porthole” within the installation offers an opportunity to engage with the surrounding gradient, mimicking the water’s depths.

Spatial Efficiency Now: Work from the Polyhedral Structures Laboratory at Penn
This exhibition brings together ongoing research projects at the Polyhedral Structures Laboratory (PSL) at the University of Pennsylvania Stuart Weitzman School of Design. Each work on display is a unique design response to specific conditions of forces being brought into equilibrium. These examples illustrate an unconventional design method that introduces the inclusion of force equilibrium at the very early stages of design. With this method, a designer can precisely control the geometry of the flow of forces in a three-dimensional space to design architectural structures.

Lyft
Lyft is committed to doing its part to create an environment for effortless city living and a central starting place is through collaboration. By uniting around a common goal to create a seamless transit system in Philadelphia, Lyft and the many other transportation players in the city can work together to achieve a multi-modal approach to transit. There is an abundance of innovation happening within the industry; Lyft strives to work together to leverage it and enhance the ease of travel for Philadelphia.

 

Free and open to the public.
Wheelchair accessible.
Dogs on leashes welcome.
Cherry Street Pier is a smoke and vapor-free zone.