AKA-Rchitecture
2011 Walnut Street, Floor 2
Philadelphia, PA 19103
Glen Foerd Boat House
Design and construction of a non-combustible interpretation of the historical boathouse
which sat on the same seawall foundations before being destroyed by fire in the late
1980's. This building, on the grounds of the historic Glen Foerd Mansion Estate on the
Delaware River in northeast Philadelphia, is an important destination on the estate’s
riverside promenade, affording visitors the opportunity to walk out over the river on the
roof deck above the club room and lower boat storage bay.
An open roof structure made of finely crafted wood covered the original promenade
look-out. It has been brought back to life with carefully detailed steel framing members
which provide silhouette profiles reminiscent of the old wood joinery. Fiber cement
siding and trim replicate the scale and articulation of the original painted wood
clapboards.
Lisa Armstrong of A K Architecture enjoys expressing a building’s structure through its
architectural language. She also enjoys abstracting traditional design details or
rethinking them with contemporary materials and technology. Glen Foerd Boat House
was a great opportunity to play with the concepts of new and old.