• Philadelphia, PA

• 23-unit apartment bulding with ground floor commercial

• 20,000sf

• completed 2024

developer: Archive Development Group

general contractor: Grit Construction

structural engineer: StructureLabs

photography: Jeffrey Totaro

2406 Frankford Avenue provided a unique opportunity for us to work within a context that we created.  We completed 2414 Frankford Avenue in 2022, a clean white brick design with simple brick detailing and exposed steel channel lintels.  We then followed up with 2400 Frankford Avenue completed in 2023, a more modern design in black brick with a rounded corner and a grid of slightly projected brick.  We then had the chance to design 2406 Frankford Avenue, formerly the site of 4 deteriorating townhomes that were demolished to create an infill site between our 2 recently completed projects.  For 2406 Frankford we chose a tan brick as a gradient between the adjacent white and black bricks.  From 2414 Frankford Avenue we brought over the steel channels and created a metal channel grid over the façade.  From 2400 Frankford we then incorporated the projected brick grid, here we increased the depth of the projection to be the same as the depth of the channels providing integrated overlapping grids of brick and steel. Completed in 2024, the two grids provide stunning shadows over the course of the day.  The brick here is perfectly coursed with only full stretchers, headers and rowlock, the brick is also continuous behind the channel grid providing a time-tested barrier to the elements.