The first phase of the project began with an analysis of Penns Landing located in Philadelphia. The facade articulation of the block site varies from the outer wrapper and the inner courtyard. It is a clear threshold and boundary yet permeable through its various apertures. Its order and sequence spoke to the interior organization of the block and living spaces. Herman Hertzberger’s Student housing used threshold moments between public and private as spaces for communal gathering.

The second phase of the project combines the two precedents into one hybridized threshold. The hybrid model presented layers the two thresholds from the precedents creating new levels of semipublic gathering spaces. By responding to the site the massings of the units alternate to create covered spaces and rear front yards. The sequence of spaces layer both in plan and section to create a compounding effect from the movement of public to private.