Philadelphia Museum of Art Parking Garage

Drawing visitors from near and far, the Philadelphia Museum of Art constructed an underground parking garage near its iconic main building to offer greater access to its exceptional collections and exhibitions. The grounds for the site contained numerous historically placed obstacles, including very deep boulder fills, a 13.5-foot diameter active sewer, an underground sewage reservoir, and variable rock elevations.

As designed, the parking structure would be located within a basin created by using a hybrid tieback soldier pile and mechanically stabilized earth (MSE) wall system. Schnabel developed a unique shoring system for lateral support at the basin. We also completed hydrogeological studies in the vicinity of the existing sewage reservoir. In addition, our geotechnical site investigation resulted in the design of a combined caisson and shallow foundation system for the structure.