In a dramatic reconfiguration of one city block in Philadelphia, a significant urban plaza is under development. The quarter acre space is formed by the introduction of Comcast Center, a new fifty-six story office tower by Robert A.M. Stern, with Philadelphia's historic Suburban Station to its east and a seventeen-story tower that mirrors the station (also by Stern) to its west. The plaza serves as a new destination for Philadelphia residents, as well as an entry into the regional rail lines serving Philadelphia's suburban population, located immediately under the site.

This plaza over structure will be separated from John F. Kennedy Boulevard by a meticulously clipped aerial hedge along the length of the site, shading planters, seat walls and a long granite bench that allows people to gather along the plaza's edge. In an effort to meet the challenges of designing over structure and to create a space in which people will gather socially, the plaza itself is set just above the surrounding sidewalk, allowing views into the site, while achieving the necessary separation from the street. The plaza will be constructed in a pattern of varied subtle shades of granite and stainless steel striping. Bosques of flowering trees will flank the eastern and western sides of the plaza, and on a raised terrace, a café housed in a clear glass box will be integrated with a sculptural trellis of glass, steel and vines. Pedestrians pass through and linger under the trellis which provides a threshold to both the café and the plaza. An open-joint, animated fountain provides a changing display along the length of the north side of the café terrace. All of these elements are arranged as transitional layers between the street, the plaza and the towers that surround it; layered in an east/west direction that responds to the activity of the trains on the concourse below.

One enters Comcast Center through a 130-foot tall, clear glass and Kasota granite winter garden housing a dynamic Jonathan Borofsky floating sculpture. In an effort to receive Leeds environmental recognition for the tower, five forty-foot atria rise above the winter garden, with large hanging, woven vine-covered scrims visible not only from the interior, but from the street below.