Location: Reading, Pennsylvania

Client: CNA Insurance

Scope of Work: The architectural challenge was to design a functional office building of great bulk that would be both unique and compatible with its neighbors without being dated. This was achieved by emphasizing the vertical elements of the structure to define a visual scale that could be related to the scale of the smaller individual buildings on the Square while maintaining the functionality of continuous window openings. The strong tradition of rich brick detailing, prevalent throughout the City, is suggested in the articulation of the brick column enclosures and the corbelling details of the parapet. The brick detailing is more of a remembrance than a reproduction of the past.

The ground floor retail areas consist of a series of small shops, fronting on an arcade along Penn Square - around the corner on Fourth Street, and into CNA Plaza (pictured at left). The Plaza itself serves as an extension to Penn Square, connecting Penn Street with Court Street.

Total size of the building was 260,000 sq.ft. with 5 floors plus a basement level.

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