Infill: The Low-Rise Side of the Boom

After you've done your bit to protest the Plumbers Union's potty policy (Sunday, 1 p.m. in Love Park), stroll a few blocks south to Gallery 339 (21st and Pine Streets) to join the opening reception of a new exhibit devoted to small-scale architecture projects. Called Infill, it examines the type of buildings that creep in on cat's paws and take up residence in the city's empty spaces. The opening runs from 2 to 4 p.m. The show features work by three cutting-edge local firms: QB3, which designed the exquisite Gallery 339; Plumbob, the collective that built Rag Flats and Onion Flats; and Diagram/Richard Taransky Studio, a firm that does more theorizing than building.

I play a small part in the show, having written some ruminations on the nature of infill for the catalogue. Infill housing has become almost a dissident form in Philadelphia's current developer-driven, skyscraper-dominated boom. These small projects, I argue, are "everything a skyscraper is not: gentle, organic, non-invasive, anti-heroic. Since each one is made specifically for its location, infill buildings are effectively hand-crafted..."

And so on. The show runs through May 7.