The first completed office building from Bjarke Ingels Group features a double-curved façade and giant periscope

Located in the Navy Yard Corporate Center, a master-planned development within the Philadelphia Navy Yard, 1200 Intrepid stands as the first completed office building from Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), the first BIG building in Philadelphia, and just the second building BIG has completed in the United States.

Providing 92,000 sf of space spread across four stories, 1200 Intrepid takes many of its design features from the circular park and Navy Yard master plan while also resembling the curved bows of the battleships docked nearby.

At the ground level, the building curves around the street and presents a front façade created by stacking precast concrete panels of varying sizes in a basket-weave pattern. As the panels increase in height, they also begin to tilt outward. This creates a canopy over the front sidewalk of the building. The other three sides of the building rise straight up.

A large periscope runs through all four stories in the building’s lobby in honor of the Navy yard’s maritime history and allows visitors and tenants to view ships docked in the water. The center of the building is open all the way through to allow for natural light to reach each center-bordering office.

The use of precast concrete panels made from recycled and recyclable content to enhance energy efficiency with their dense mass proved to play a big role in helping the building achieve LEED Gold certification.

Penn Capital is currently 1200 Intrepid’s only tenant, occupying 26,000 sf on the top floor. The rest of the space is still available for lease by Liberty Property Trust.

Photo Credit: Rasmus Hjortshoej courtesy of Bjarke Ingels Group

Photo Credit: Rasmus Hjortshoej courtesy of Bjarke Ingels Group

Photo Credit: Rasmus Hjortshoej courtesy of Bjarke Ingels Group