The University of Pennsylvania has opened the Meeting and Guest House in downtown Philadelphia. Adjacent to the President’s House and lively 38th Street, as well as key campus sites Perry World House and the Kelly Writers House, the brand new, Deborah Berke Partners-designed building is intended to support social life at the university and features a range of event and gathering spaces within a reimagined late Victorian townhouse.
Originally built in the late 19th century by W Frisbey Smith, who was then a young graduate of Penn’s architecture programme, the structure has been redesigned and added to by the New York architecture studio led by Deborah Berke. It ‘transforms the Victorian townhouse into a 21st-century destination’, and offers residential suites for honoured guests and visiting dignitaries.
Victorian townhouse turns Meeting and Guest House
Using a three-part logic that follows the massing of the original Victorian townhouse building, a new vertically grooved terracotta façade is inserted at the rear and east side, reinterpreting the brick of the original building. The eastern part of the building also includes a former parking space now designed as an event space.
In addition, techniques such as ‘transparent and veiled glazing’ are utilised to carefully call attention to daily transitions of light, allowing the building to ‘glow like a beacon’.
The lobby is supported by window walls that open out to the terrace, whilst the mezzanine unites the staircase and elevator with a conference room that leads to a meeting and event space. The second floor hosts offices, multipurpose meeting rooms and a board room, and the remaining two floors host four suites and offices, catering to university guests.
The Meeting and Guest House is preserved through repointed brickwork, the installation of a new roof and the reglazing of original windows, with the rest of the restoration process focusing on ornamentation.
The main entrance, newly repositioned to the south side of the building, is a ‘fully accessible addition off a shared motor court’ and is adjacent to Locust Walk, a busy pedestrian thoroughfare that is the ‘life and blood’ of the campus.
Employing clever, sustainable architecture, the Meeting and Guest House building has earned a gold certification from the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design programme. This demonstrates and aligns with architects Deborah Berke Partners’ design ethos of honing ‘complex considerations – environmental, social, and aesthetic – into meaningful architecture’.
The Meeting and Guest House building is now open to the public, from Monday to Friday.
INFORMATION
dberke.com
-
This cult Los Angeles pop-up restaurant now has a permanent addressChef Brian Baik’s Corridor 109 makes its permanent debut in Melrose Hill. No surprise, it's now one of the hardest tables in town to book
-
French bistro restaurant Maset channels the ease of the Mediterranean in LondonThis Marylebone restaurant is shaped by the coastal flavours, materials and rhythms of southern France
-
How ethical is Google Street View, asks Jon Rafman in CopenhagenIn 'Report a Concern - the Nine Eyes Archives' at Louisiana Museum of Art, Copenhagen, Jon Rafman considers technology's existential implications
-
Step inside this resilient, river-facing cabin for a life with ‘less stuff’A tough little cabin designed by architects Wittman Estes, with a big view of the Pacific Northwest's Wenatchee River, is the perfect cosy retreat
-
Remembering Robert A.M. Stern, an architect who discovered possibility in the pastIt's easy to dismiss the late architect as a traditionalist. But Stern was, in fact, a design rebel whose buildings were as distinctly grand and buttoned-up as his chalk-striped suits
-
Own an early John Lautner, perched in LA’s Echo Park hillsThe restored and updated Jules Salkin Residence by John Lautner is a unique piece of Californian design heritage, an early private house by the Frank Lloyd Wright acolyte that points to his future iconic status
-
The Stahl House – an icon of mid-century modernism – is for sale in Los AngelesAfter 65 years in the hands of the same family, the home, also known as Case Study House #22, has been listed for $25 million
-
Houston's Ismaili Centre is the most dazzling new building in America. Here's a look insideLondon-based architect Farshid Moussavi designed a new building open to all – and in the process, has created a gleaming new monument
-
Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fountainhead will be opened to the public for the first timeThe home, a defining example of the architect’s vision for American design, has been acquired by the Mississippi Museum of Art, which will open it to the public, giving visitors the chance to experience Frank Lloyd Wright’s genius firsthand
-
Clad in terracotta, these new Williamsburg homes blend loft living and an organic feelThe Williamsburg homes inside 103 Grand Street, designed by Brooklyn-based architects Of Possible, bring together elegant interiors and dramatic outdoor space in a slick, stacked volume
-
This ethereal Miami residence sprouted out of a wild, jungle-like gardenA Miami couple tapped local firm Brillhart Architecture to design them a house that merged Florida vernacular, Paul Rudolph and 'too many plants to count’
