VALLEY GREEN STUDY

The Valley Green Inn has remained an icon within Philadelphia’s Wissahickon Valley since the 1850s. It serves as a destination, a prominent meeting point, and an important piece of history. Despite this cultural and historic importance, the Inn is at risk due to its current, physical state and fragility within an increasingly hostile floodplain.

As part of a charrette put on by the City, our great team came up with a strategy to maintain the Inn as a destination, while preparing for the reality that it may not be around forever. By pushing the main through-trail up the hill and behind the Inn, expanding the upper floor of the building toward that trail with new programmable community space, and restoring the connection to the creek in front as a terraced gathering and events area, the new design will preserve the Inn as a community nexus, while also ensuring it remains a safe place as the waters continue to surge.