Shoemaker Green

Shoemaker Green is located immediately east of 33rd Street between Walnut and Spruce Streets on the University of Pennsylvania campus, and is a major component of the east-west connection between the central campus and Penn Park, serving as a new continuation of the Locust Walk / Smith Walk corridor. The site is surrounded by two of the University's most iconic athletic facilities - the Palestra and Franklin Field, and serves as the "front door" to these historic structures. Shoemaker Green's program is mainly passive recreation, but the site has the ability to adapt for multiple events and activities with a wide range of scales, from secluded areas to eat lunch to staging areas for the Penn Relays and graduation. By way of carrying over the essence of College Green, while still retaining a character all its own, the site is the heart of Penn's eastward expansion. Shoemaker Green also serves as a model for sustainable campus design. Through the innovative use of a variety of strategies and technologies, the design of Shoemaker Green has been optimized to capture and control stormwater from the site and surrounding rooftops, provide viable native plant and animal habitats, minimize transportation of materials to and from the site, and serve as a starting point for the development of a sustainable maintenance strategy for the University at large. photo by: Barrett Doherty