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1100 Architect

University of Pennsylvania, Perry World House

Photographs: Greg Benson
Photographs: Greg Benson
City
Philadelphia
Building type
universities
building project
reconstruction
completion
2016
material façade
stonework
architect award
2017 Popular Choice Award
Philadelphia, PA
2016

A new building transforms a 19th-century residence on the University of Pennsylvania campus into Perry World House, a new Center for Global Initiatives. Situated prominently near the entrance to a university dining hall and alongside a major urban thoroughfare, the building reinterprets the volumes of the neo-Gothic architectural language of the structure to which it is attached in a dynamically-shaped limestone form which is as spatially efficient as it is vibrant. The facility contains numerous flexible classrooms, meeting rooms, and common areas with a unique attention to student interaction and multi-disciplinary exchange. At its core is the World Forum, a glass-enclosed courtyard that will serve as a dynamic multi-use event space capable of hosting seminars, lectures, and special events. Offices for residential fellows, visiting scholars and student groups fill out the program. Presently under construction and on track for LEED Silver certification, Perry World House will be completed in Spring 2016.

Fotographer: Greg Benson