Design Profile: Horizon House Headquarters

Horizon House’s ‘people first’ headquarters in West Philadelphia expresses a holistic view of wellness for its 250 staff and thousands of program participants. As co-developer and anchor tenant for the New Market West building, Horizon House occupies three floors with homeless services, health clinics, administrative services, developmental services, behavioral health therapies, a model apartment to prepare participants for independent living, and shared spaces for gathering and learning. The open and welcoming space reflects an open-door policy, wellness, collaboration, and safety.

Relocation from the dark and densely occupied building they had been in for decades presented Horizon House with an opportunity to provide quality spaces for their staff that reflected the level of care they offer to marginalized communities. The result is bright, open, visually connected spaces with “daylight equity” for all staff and participants. A high-efficiency HVAC system provides constant fresh air replacement, which acquired even more significance during the pandemic. Additionally, materials were selected to be not just durable and cost effective, but non-toxic and with low embodied-carbon. For Horizon House, a green building simply made sense for promoting wellness, saving operating costs, and signaling to staff and participants “you matter.”

With a construction start in January 2020, the project was directly impacted by COVID-19 and was redesigned during construction to address the pandemic science of the moment. In addition to spacing workstations for social distancing, furniture and infrastructure were reimagined to support a hybrid work model which involves more hoteling space and fewer dedicated workstations. For Horizon House, coming out of the pandemic crisis phase was more than just getting back to work - it was about relocating to a new physical space that demonstrates gratitude and respect for agency staff and program participants.

Project: Horizon House Headquarters

Location: Philadelphia, PA

Client: Horizon House

Project Size: 55,000 sf

Project Team:
Re:Vision (Architecture)

Kitchen & Associates (Systems Engineering, Furniture Coordination)

Northstar (Owner Representation)

Columbus Property Management (Construction)