University plans new academic building
By: Nancy Lan
Issue date: 5/18/07 Section: News
Originally published: 5/18/07 at 4:11 AM EST
Last update: 5/18/07 at 4:10 AM EST
Originally published: 5/18/07 at 4:11 AM EST
Last update: 5/18/07 at 4:10 AM EST
Drexel University plans to build a new academic building that will be located at the corner of 33rd and Chestnut streets. Construction is set to begin spring 2008 with an estimated cost of $49 million. The University has selected Diamond + Schmitt Architects Inc., a Canadian-based firm, to build the infrastructure.
Diamond + Schmitt Architects Inc. is the recipient of over 100 awards for architecture and design on national and international levels. Past projects include 34 academic and research centers with clients such as the University of Michigan, University of Toronto, McGill University and Oxford University.
Drexel's decision to work with Diamond + Schmitt "reflects the University's commitment to develop and maintain a healthy, efficient and ecologically sound campus environment," stated James Tucker, Senior Vice President of Student Life, on the Daily Commercial News and Construction Record. The University's eco-friendly initiative includes a biofilter wall that will process the supply of air naturally through plants. This will be the first biofilter built in the United States on a university campus, as well as the largest overall biofilter in any U.S. academic or office building.
The new building will contain five stories at 28,500 square feet per floor, with a spiral staircase running up its full height. There will be an atrium located on the first floor which will "work as sort of a public street within the building; it will be like the main student area...designed such that it will be a social connector, a place for people to meet," says Dan Gallivan, an architectural intern at Diamond + Schmitt Inc. According to Gallivan, all corridors that carry students through the upper levels wrap around and overlook the atrium, which will be topped by a glass skylight.
The building will house the department of Bioscience and provide improved facilities for undergraduate students, as well as 32 new research laboratories and nine teaching labs. Classrooms will be built adjacent to the atrium and will seat 250, 60, and 30 students, respectively. Each laboratory will contain 800 square feet for research, and each teaching lab will span 1,200 square feet. In addition, the Steinbright Career Development Center will be moved from its current location at 3201 Arch Street to the new building, and its offices will take up approximately three-fourths of the second floor.
Students hold conflicting views on the new building. Colleen McAndrew, a sophomore majoring in music industry, said: "I think the building will be good because Drexel is obviously expanding, year by year, so we need more space to put everything," while Valerie Banas, a freshman majoring in teacher education feels that the building is "really awesome looking, but...Drexel has more important things it should be spending its money on. It's overly fancy."
Diamond + Schmitt Architects Inc. plans on shifting the project's conceptual design towards a more detailed one over the course of the next few months. Drexel University will also release more details in the upcoming weeks and will hold a media event to officially announce the new building and present its eco-friendly systems to the public.
Student opinion about the building varied on everything from the design to the displaced parking.
Diamond + Schmitt Architects Inc. is the recipient of over 100 awards for architecture and design on national and international levels. Past projects include 34 academic and research centers with clients such as the University of Michigan, University of Toronto, McGill University and Oxford University.
Drexel's decision to work with Diamond + Schmitt "reflects the University's commitment to develop and maintain a healthy, efficient and ecologically sound campus environment," stated James Tucker, Senior Vice President of Student Life, on the Daily Commercial News and Construction Record. The University's eco-friendly initiative includes a biofilter wall that will process the supply of air naturally through plants. This will be the first biofilter built in the United States on a university campus, as well as the largest overall biofilter in any U.S. academic or office building.
The new building will contain five stories at 28,500 square feet per floor, with a spiral staircase running up its full height. There will be an atrium located on the first floor which will "work as sort of a public street within the building; it will be like the main student area...designed such that it will be a social connector, a place for people to meet," says Dan Gallivan, an architectural intern at Diamond + Schmitt Inc. According to Gallivan, all corridors that carry students through the upper levels wrap around and overlook the atrium, which will be topped by a glass skylight.
The building will house the department of Bioscience and provide improved facilities for undergraduate students, as well as 32 new research laboratories and nine teaching labs. Classrooms will be built adjacent to the atrium and will seat 250, 60, and 30 students, respectively. Each laboratory will contain 800 square feet for research, and each teaching lab will span 1,200 square feet. In addition, the Steinbright Career Development Center will be moved from its current location at 3201 Arch Street to the new building, and its offices will take up approximately three-fourths of the second floor.
Students hold conflicting views on the new building. Colleen McAndrew, a sophomore majoring in music industry, said: "I think the building will be good because Drexel is obviously expanding, year by year, so we need more space to put everything," while Valerie Banas, a freshman majoring in teacher education feels that the building is "really awesome looking, but...Drexel has more important things it should be spending its money on. It's overly fancy."
Diamond + Schmitt Architects Inc. plans on shifting the project's conceptual design towards a more detailed one over the course of the next few months. Drexel University will also release more details in the upcoming weeks and will hold a media event to officially announce the new building and present its eco-friendly systems to the public.
Student opinion about the building varied on everything from the design to the displaced parking.
YOU KNOW MY NAME
posted 5/22/07 @ 8:33 AM EST
to the girl that commented that this building is overly fancy and that drexel has more important things to spend money on, what is it then? Quite frankly, the school is bursting at the seems and it needs more room for a lot of things (i. (Continued…)