Perelman Quadrangle
Philadelphia
Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates

A student precinct is reinforced through a careful weaving of planning, renovation, and design

© Matt Wargo

For more photos click on 'photos & drawings' above. To see the people and products behind this project click on 'people & products.'

By Suzanne Stephens

As colleges and universities expand, too often they lose their sense of cohesion. Such a blurring occurred at the University of Pennsylvania in west Philadelphia, where a core of historic buildings, including a student union, had gradually been drained of its role as the campus center. To bring vitality back to this ensemble, Venturi Scott Brown and Associates developed a strategy as part of the master-planning efforts they were undertaking for the university. Now called Perelman Quadrangle, after financier and alumnus Ronald Perelman, the group of buildings and open spaces demonstrates the critical relationship of architecture and design with planning, programming, and restoration.

The major student center, the traditional, clubby-looking, wainscoted Houston Hall, was restored and renovated for study areas and cafés. Houston's basement, which had been used for mechanical systems, storage, and some food service, was cleaned out, with the mechanical rooms and related services moved underneath the outdoor plaza. That left an ample 20,000 square feet for various dining areas subdivided by existing fieldstone walls and steel columns.

In restoring and renovating the steel and concrete Irvine Auditorium, VSBA removed balconies on either side of what had become a 1,250-seat auditorium, making room for a café and a 125-seat recital hall. The most compelling aspect of Irvine Auditorium is, without doubt, the painted polychromed interior, restored to the original color scheme added at the end of the building's construction.

Williams Hall, a language classroom building, received "conservative surgery," according to Denise Scott Brown, including a single-story, glazed café and study room (Silfen Study Center) that juts out from the building at ground level to attract students at all hours.

Outdoors, the center stage of Perelman Quad is occupied by Wynn Commons, a rectangular plaza named after Vegas casinomeister and alumnus Steven Wynn. Here, a small amphitheater in front of Logan Hall and a speakers platform with the Penn crest at the Irvine end help enclose the space, while seating is provided by low granite retaining walls.

See the December 2001 issue of Architectural Record for full coverage of this project.

Formal name of Project:
Perelman Quadrangle

Location:
Philadelphia

Gross square footage:
323,000 sq. ft.

Total construction cost:
$87 million

Owner:
University of Pennsylvania www.upenn.edu

Architect:
Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates, Inc.
4236 Main Street
Philadelphia, PA 19127
phone: 215-487-0400
fax: 215-487-2520
www.vsba.com