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GOLASKI FLATS
Education & Residential / Easton, PA / Completed 2022
Golaski Flats is a groundbreaking five-story mixed-use development in Germantown, Philadelphia, featuring 35 modular residential units, a restored two-story masonry building, heavy timber commercial offices, a maker’s space, and a multicultural co-working community hub.
The original structures housed numerous business ventures of Walter Golaski, the Polish-American mechanical biomedical engineer and inventor after whom Golaski Flats is named. The most important invention of his career was the close-knit dacron vascular graft, a major improvement to the market that allowed patients longer life expectancies. The developers worked closely with the Golaski family to cement Walter’s legacy well into the future and to maintain the familiar name in the neighborhood.
The design of Golaski Flats faced several challenges, most notably a tight budget and a compact site with multiple existing buildings in varying conditions. Each design decision required the team to evaluate which strategy would provide the greatest return. Frequently revisiting this question guided many decisions, including whether to reuse or demolish existing buildings, the choice to construct the new five-story residential structure using modular wood technology, and the decision to clad the exterior in metal. The question also pushed us to minimize the heavy hand and maximize a light touch for the adaptive restoration of the existing buildings. The heavy touch for example included replacing all the windows whereas the light touch sometimes was as simple as painting the interior and exterior existing brick and masonry walls.
The design of Golaski Flats faced several challenges, most notably a tight budget and a compact site with multiple existing buildings in varying conditions. Each design decision required the team to evaluate which strategy would provide the greatest return. Frequently revisiting this question guided many decisions, including whether to reuse or demolish existing buildings, the choice to construct the new five-story residential structure using modular wood technology, and the decision to clad the exterior in metal. The question also pushed us to minimize the heavy hand and maximize a light touch for the adaptive restoration of the existing buildings. The heavy touch for example included replacing all the windows whereas the light touch sometimes was as simple as painting the interior and exterior existing brick and masonry walls.
Trying to make a significant impact to the neighborhood and at the same time have the project “pencil out” it was necessary to balance the following: creating common spaces, preserving existing space, and maximizing the number of residential units.
Program Development
Module Design
The large factory warehouses (like Golaski Flats) found throughout Philadelphia not only have structural systems that last for hundreds of years but also with their high live load capacity and large structural spans allow for almost any use to occur within them in the future. It was decided to keep and renovate the two heavy timber buildings (pictured above) and the concrete structure. The existing Victorian single family house superstructure was razed however a future restaurant is designed to be built using its existing foundations
Adaptive Renovation
Ground Floor
The narrow courtyard that connects the modular build with the adaptive renovation provided an opportunity to introduce greenery and social space. This interstitial zone unifies both new and old, public and private, commercial and residential.
Interstitial Space
Interstitial Space
Basement
To maximize the number of housing units and keep within the project’s tight budget, the residential build was constructed using an all wood structural system. This was achieved by using IIIB Construction which allows 5 stories with a combination of 2 hour non-combustible fire treated wood exterior walls and combustible interior materials.
While the modular units were being built and stored at the factory 2 hours away the site work including the pouring of the modular foundation were in progress along with the selective demolition and renovations to the existing building.
Modular Build
Module Configuration
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