Design Profile: Wharton’s Academic Research Building

The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania is a cluster of buildings within the dense urban fabric and landscaped spaces of Penn's campus. The new five-story Academic Research Building has an important presence on Spruce Street across from the “collegiate gothic” towers of the historic Quad, which houses students. In order to unite the wedge-shaped building on the interior and increase its prominence from the adjacent campus pathways, a vibrant Identity Mural comprised of 140 graphic glass panels was designed. Three layered elements of color — background field, tonal bands, and chromatic strands — transition across the building in a gradient of hue and value. Reaching up three stories, this mural provides intimate detail, defines important common spaces, and emphasizes the transparency of the building as seen from the campus' pedestrian walks.  

Project: Academic Research Building 

Location: West Philadelphia     

Client: University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School  

Project Size: 6,500 square feet 

Project Team:  

MGA Partners (Architecture)  

Ground Reconsidered (Landscape Architecture) 

The Lighting Practice (Lighting)  

Keast & Hood (Structural Engineering) 

Meliora Inc. (Civil Engineering) 

Front, Inc. (Façade)  

Hunter Roberts Construction Consultants (Construction Management)  

H.F. Lenz Company (Company Systems)  

McGrory Glass, Inc. (Glass)  

PHOTOS: HALKIN MASON PHOTOGRAPHY