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CAMPUS DEVELOPMENT A growing campus Wherever you turn it seems there’s a new construction project rising from the dust or a just-minted building showing off its glass and gleam. To the north, the colossus that will be Domus is transforming a drab surface parking lot into a locus of industry and anticipation. The elegant new McNeil Center for Early American Studies takes its place on Hill Field, while the revamped Fisher-Bennett Hall welcomes students to classrooms flooded with light and wired with the latest technology. World-class design has come to campus, too, with the soon-to-open Skirkanich Hall, and as the Engineering Department expands into its new digs over the summer, Hill Pavilion, the Vet School’s new facility, will greet its first visitors. With the University set to acquire the 24-acre Postal Lands site next year, the cranes look to be with us for a while. Here we give you a rundown of current campus projects, some on the drawing board, some in construction, some at the ribbon cutting stage on this ever-changing campus of ours. Domus
What it is: Domus will become an eight-story luxury apartment complex
with 290 apartments and 23,000 square feet of commercial space. Amenities
will include a heated outdoor pool, a private screening room, a WiFi
Internet café and a 24-hour concierge. The apartments will also
boast 10-foot ceilings, gourmet kitchens and walk-in closets. A lineup
of as yet unnamed retail stores will be included on the street level.
With the project due to be completed in fall 2007 the major milestone
this year has been the announcement of Dennis Oppenheim as the artist
who will be creating and installing a significant public art installation
as part of Philadelphia’s One Percent for Art program. (See “Art
in the open,” page 1.) McNeil Center for Early American Studies
What it is: Designed by Robert A.M. Stern Architects, the McNeil Center
for Early American Studies celebrated its first permanent home, on Woodland
Walk, last fall. With a focus on the histories and cultures of North
America before 1850, the Center promotes the scholarly use of the Philadelphia
area’s unparalleled research collections and operates as a consortium
of 16 mid-Atlantic colleges, universities, libraries, museums and historical
societies, including the American Philosophical Association, the Library
Company of Philadelphia, Winterthur and the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
It also offers pre- and post-doctoral fellowships, a seminar series and
national symposia on specialized topics. In cooperation with Penn Press,
the McNeil Center also publishes a book series and Early American Studies:
An Interdisciplinary Journal. Fisher-Bennett Hall
What it is: The renovation of Fisher-Bennett Hall brought many improvements,
including new rehearsal and teaching spaces for the Music Department
and a permanent home and screening rooms for the new Cinema Studies program.
Architecturally significant details, such as the skylight that fills
the grand staircase with light, were restored, and forgotten or underutilized
areas on the fourth floor were transformed into new classrooms. Other
improvements included soundproofing, modernized air and heating systems
and technology-equipped classrooms. Postal Lands
What it is: The postal properties include 24 acres extending from Market
Street on the north to Penn’s Bower Field on the south. They encompass
the main U.S. Postal Building on Market Street, the Postal Annex site
located between Chestnut Street and Walnut Street, the Vehicle Maintenance
Facility Garage along Chestnut Street and the 14 acres of surface parking
south of Walnut Street. Aquisition of the Postal Lands, which will become
official in 2007, will allow the University to create new connections
between the campus and the city and provide additional space for research,
teaching, housing and retail. (See “Looking East,” page 1.) Carolyn Hoff Lynch Biology Laboratory
What it is: This project involved the design and construction of facilities
for expansion of the Biology Department and relocation of the Psychology
Department. As well as adding technologically advanced facilities, the
Lynch Biology Laboratory is designed to allow for interdisciplinary collaboration,
with flexible research modules that can be reconfigured to accommodate
emerging research priorities. The cost also includes planning for Phase
II of the Life Sciences building. Skirkanich Hall
What it is: This project involved the demolition of Pender Laboratories
to create space for the Bioengineering Department. This new state-of- Annenberg Public Policy Center
What it is: This project involves the demolition of the former Hillel
building off 36th and Walnut to make way for the construction of 40,000
square feet of new space for Annenberg Public Policy Center administration,
forum, offices and research space. The Hub (40th and Chestnut)
What it is: This 10-story mixed-use building with apartments and retail
is part of the ongoing development of 40th Street as a hub of activity.
The project also aims to encourage undergraduate and graduate students
to live closer to campus in high quality, professionally managed, safe
and secure properties. 3900 Walnut What it is: A plan is underway to redevelop the center portion of the
3900 block of Walnut Street. The affected retailers—including College
Pizza and Last Word Bookstore—are being relocated on or near 40th
Street. The property will house a mixture of uses with approximately
30,000 square feet of new retail spaces on the street level and several
stories of apartments above. The units will be designed and priced for
students. Hill Pavilion
What it is: The Vet School’s first new building in 25 years,
the four-story Vernon and Shirley Hill Pavilion is being erected adjacent
to the veterinary
school on a lot bounded by Baltimore, Woodland and University Avenues.
It will contain two floors of teaching and library space, and two floors
of research laboratories. Condos at 4200 Pine
What it is: This former mansion—and former home of Penn Press and
Creative Communications—is being developed into 33 high-quality
condos, providing new homeownership opportunities in University City
and inside the Penn-Alexander catchment area. The intention of selling
this Horace Trumbauer-designed gem was twofold: to relocate Penn administrative
offices back onto campus and to support the community by increasing opportunities
for homeownership. The condos, which start at $269,000 for a one-bedroom,
feature hardwood floors in the main living areas, kitchens with granite
countertops and ceramic tiles and central air. Reserved parking spaces
are also available on the property.
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