This 28-by-59-inch horizontal panorama documents downtown Philadelphia—the historic center of America’s first major city, where colonial-era planning produced the urban grid that William Penn envisioned in 1682. The nearly five-foot width captures the layered architectural history visible in Philadelphia’s streetscape.

Created in 1989, the work documents the urban density of a city whose downtown retains commercial vitality amid structures spanning three centuries. Philadelphia’s Center City preserves its original street grid while accommodating skyscrapers, colonial landmarks, and everything between. The photo collage technique suits this architectural palimpsest, fragmenting the view into multiple perspectives that the assembled composition reunifies.

Philadelphia’s role as America’s first capital gives its downtown particular historical weight. Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, and other Revolutionary-era landmarks occupy spaces surrounded by later commercial development, the colonial city embedded within its urban successor. The downtown panorama captures this layering where historical monument meets contemporary commerce.

The horizontal format emphasizes the street-level perspective on downtown’s architectural variety: Victorian commercial buildings adjoining modern towers, historic churches beside contemporary retail, the constant urban renewal that makes American downtowns laboratories of architectural experiment.

Philadelphia was experiencing significant redevelopment when Hayashi created this work, the 1980s commercial boom adding new towers while older buildings faced preservation decisions. This panorama documents the downtown during that transitional moment, the urban fabric continuously rewoven while retaining threads from earlier eras.