designwire daily | Shepley Bullfinch Breaks Ground on Philadelphia University Design College

Shepley Bullfinch Breaks Ground on Philadelphia University Design College

by Ian Volner | Thursday, June 16, 2011

Boston-based firm Shepley Bulfinch has just broken ground on a new $20-million home for Philadelphia University’s College of Design, Engineering, and Commerce. Set to open in early 2013, the structure is the latest addition by Shepley Bulfinch to Phil U’s East Falls campus, following the firm’s Paul J. Gutman Library (1992) and Kanbar Campus Center (2006).

Says university president Stephen Spinelli, “The College of Design, Engineering and Commerce is unique, and this striking new building will support and enhance [its] powerful academic experience.”

Thirty-eight thousand square feet in all, the new academic building is looking to clinch LEED Silver certification for energy efficiency, thanks in part to a signature metallic shell that facilitates natural climate control. Inside, the program is a mixed bag, reflecting the interdisciplinary approach of the school itself, including design studios, meeting rooms, and seminar spaces. The building will foster the kind of intellectual cross-pollination for which the combined design-and-engineering curriculum was created.

Shepley Bulfinch is an intriguing choice for the commission: persons unfamiliar with the firm may be interested to know that its former, formal title was Shepley Bulfinch Richardson & Abbott Inc. That’s Richardson as in H.H., one of the giants of 19th-century American architecture, and no stranger to campus architecture in his day. (Though the firm’s style has changed a bit in the intervening 100 years.)