Striking Murphy & Dittenhafer Architect Designs that haven’t yet come alive
At Murphy & Dittenhafer Architects, we’ve designed a deep roster of projects that have made their way out in the world—from historic preservations to sites for the community and beyond. Still, we’ve designed many more projects that haven’t yet come to fruition.
Any Architect knows that projects go unbuilt for a variety of reasons, like funding constraints to client planning/priority changes. Some even remain in the cooker with hope they’ll see the light of day when the right circumstances fall into place. Here’s 10 unbuilt projects with designs we adore for all kinds of reasons.
Continental Square York
Roughly a decade ago, York City held public forums and made an effort to revamp Continental Square. After a national firm produced work that disappointed locals, M&D took over, coming up with several ideas for reinvention of the square that people supported.
While this project may still happen someday, it remains unbuilt. Design aspects include changing the square’s ground plane to brick traffic pavers, adding pedestrian-only crossing signals, making the four quadrants more welcoming to people and holding community events, not just accommodating cars. Our design added places for people to sit, new trees, outdoor furniture, and a glass box visitor welcome pavilion over the restored/repurposed historic underground comfort station.
YOMA
The proposed York Museum of Art (YOMA) was an idea for a private collection art gallery accommodating contemporary and traditional art alike. One of the studied sites, an on-grade parking lot near the York Central Market parking garage, remains vacant to this day.
The design includes a multi-story linear building with retail at the ground floor and various floors for arts-related components and gallery/exhibit space. A facade cutout includes a nod to York native and global artist Jeff Koons with one of his balloon dog sculptures.
Market Commons
On the same site as the YOMA design came an idea for Market Commons, a multi-story mixed-use structure with retail at the street-level corner and market-rate contemporary residential flats on multiple floor levels above which would hold prime views of the city.
Again, the parking lot site remains vacant to this day. And while the proposed structure is designed to exist against an existing parking structure, it wouldn’t compromise vehicular access.
Northwest Triangle Redevelopment
Over a number of years, M&D developed a handful of concepts for a Northwest Triangle redevelopment with combinations of residential apartments, shops, offices, and site amenities in four or five buildings to be constructed in phases.
Our planning and design approach incorporated parking structures (visibly hidden) behind the mixed-use high-rise structures, facades anchored along street sidewalks capturing panoramic views of the York City skyline, and perimeter linkages to Heritage Rail Trail that snakes across the property. Another developer has since taken on the project, assimilating similar design principles with construction currently in progress.
Susquehanna Discovery Center
M&D has contributed pro-bono design work for an active project on an 87-acre property in Hellam Township on the site of the historic Mifflin House. This project remains active as organizers continue to gather funding for the phased implementation.
Our design includes repurposing two historic barns into a Discovery Center and constructing an art museum addition for public viewing of the Susquehanna River Art collection. We also incorporated the restoration and transformation of the Mifflin Farm House into an Underground Railroad education center. We look forward to seeing this project come to life as a premier regional destination for visitors.
Fashion Garage
M&D was hired by a local retail business owner and fashion design in York City. The owner sought a design to transform the one-car garage on the site of her family’s home into a fashion design studio by adding a second story onto the existing garage
The “kit-of-parts” concept includes a shed-pitched roofline, wood plank flooring, storefront glazing and metal panel exterior walls – assembled in a “shipping container” manner. This unbuilt concept received a design award from the American Institute of Architects (AIA) of Central PA.
Old Post Office
Located at 200 South George Street in York, the old post office building generated interest from a local art education institution, which wanted to transform it into a building suitable for education and exploration purposes. While the original party has declined proceeding further with the adaptive re-use, a combination of other private and public entities continues to express interest. This project hasn’t yet proceeded, but we believe it still will at some point.
Our design “test fit” concepts for three building levels totaling 60,000 square feet, including spaces for five or six independent tenant spaces, a second floor of market rate housing, flexible event and instructional spaces, galleries, artist studios, maker spaces with digital art labs, and live art opportunities. The building is located on an important block of South George Street. Working with local government agencies and private sector investors, we are hopeful to transform this “white elephant” into a York City destination jewel.
Ballpark Commons
M&D responded to a local request for proposal (RFP) to redesign a retail-based building (labeled Ballpark Commons) on a site in front of WellSpan Park (home of the York Revolution minor league baseball team). Our solution proposed to not construct a typical “out-parcel” two-story spec building but rather construct “a public park” that is a green foreground to the ballpark with three primary retail spaces folded within the natural landscape and with many places for people to spend time and hangout.
The design includes rolling terrain with multiple pathways throughout plus roughly 20,000 square feet of leasable space built in harmony with the landscape. We included ample seating options, pavilions, event and performance areas and food truck parking for a highly organic experience. While nothing has yet been built on the site, our design remains a fan favorite among locals.
Hilltop House
We were commissioned for a residential house design on a prominent piece of property overlooking York City. The owners wanted to recreate the indoor-outdoor type of living environment they’d grown to love at their Florida property.
Our design concept was a two-level design built into the steeply sloped site with a buried three-car garage and multiple rooms that opened out onto cantilevered connected decks and balconies from multiple rooms. The media room and other acoustic or visually sensitive areas remained closed off to daylight and external sounds and noise. The one-story streetside view of the new house remains modest while the opposite side is more dynamic, capturing panoramic views of York and the landscape beyond from its sloping hillside.
PSY Student Center
M&D had the pleasure and privilege of designing numerous projects on the Penn State York campus, including the Pullo Center for Performing Arts and the Graham Center for Innovation and Collaboration. However, one of our designs for a new student center renovation and addition did not come to fruition.
Our design for the student center intended to make the existing 1980’s brick building (which was functional, but not exciting) more of an identifiable engaging campus hub. We conceptualized plenty of glass at entrances and transparency throughout the interior that allowed students to look both inside and outside of the building to the campus and York community beyond.
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Here’s 10 unbuilt projects with designs we adore for all kinds of reasons.