PHILADELPHIA

The $200 million, 1.3 million-sq-ft Philadelphia Convention Center, designed by Thompson, Ventulett, Stainback Associates, Atlanta, and associate architects Vitetta Group, Philadelphia (Kelly Maiello and Livingston Rosenwinkel, both of Philadelphia, consulting architects), and scheduled for completion in 1991, will place 310,000 sq ft of exhibition space, 90,000 sq ft of meeting rooms, a 33,000-sq-ft ballroom, and support facilities on a three-block site east of City Hall. The historic Reading Terminal Headhouse will serve as the facility's main entrance, while the grand 1893 train shed behind it, which is the only surviving single-span arched train shed in the country, will house pre-function uses, the ballroom, and meeting rooms. The exhibit hall, which can be divided in three, is elevated over a major street, as are its truck docks. Adjacent blocks are programmed for hotel and office uses, and the convention center itself includes street-level retail.