The Lighting Practice to Illuminate Penn’s Newest Residential Building

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Penn's lighting designer

The University of Pennsylvania has approved the design for New College House West, a 250,000-square-foot undergraduate residential building on the university’s campus. The dormitory will be bordered by Philadelphia’s Locust Walk, Walnut Street, and 40th Street, adjacent to the West Philadelphia branch of the Free Library of Philadelphia.

New College House West was designed by Philadelphia architectural firm Bohlin Cywinski Jackson Architects. The Lighting Practice is currently designing the lighting system for the building’s public areas, housing spaces, and exterior lighting. With construction planned for spring of 2018, the project will target LEED Silver certification.

According to a press release published by Penn, “The building will become the second to be built specifically designed as a college house, Penn’s residential system that brings together undergraduates, faculty, staff and graduate students to form shared communities within the larger context of Penn’s vibrant campus.”

Continuing its commitment to sustainable design, Penn will incorporate additional green spaces within the New College House West site. The design introduces a private courtyard for residents and green roofs on the building. It will also maintain multiple surrounding public green spaces.

This announcement comes on the heels of Penn’s unveiling of the 15-month renovation of Hill College House, a 1960 dormitory designed by Eero Saarinen. TLP designed a lighting system for Hill College House’s amenity spaces, exterior façade lighting, and pedestrian site lighting. The design team was tasked with modernizing the dormitory while honoring Saarinen’s artful combination of small living spaces and community areas meant for collaboration and socializing. TLP is proud to be part of another exciting project on Penn’s campus.

 

Bohlin Cywinski Jackson to design another Penn college house

Curbed Philadelphia | November 2017

Fresh off its completion of the New College House, Bohlin Cywinski Jackson will design the next dorm for Penn’s campus, New College House West.

Penn announced Thursday that the university’s board of trustees has approved the design firm’s plans for a $163 million college house at 40th Street, Walnut Street, and Locust Walk. It will be adjacent to the West Philadelphia branch of the Free Library.

Penn president Amy Gutman said New College House West will serve as a western gateway to the campus, as well as help house more students on campus. “New College House West will enable more Penn students to participate in the College House system, and it will also give us the capacity and flexibility to continue renovating existing student housing.”

Penn’s college house system is unique in that it houses both undergrads, graduate students, and faculty in one community. It currently has 12 college houses, with the New College House being its most recent project built from the ground up. The university also reopened this fall the Hill College House, designed by Eero Saarinen, after it underwent a $80 million renovation.

Click here to read the full article in Curbed Philadelphia.