The Pennsylvania State University, Penn State Dickinson Law, Lewis Katz Hall
Linking two existing structures, Lewis Katz Hall creates an identifiable center of student activity for the School of Law’s original campus. In unifying disparate existing elements of the campus, a public commons reflects the School’s programmatic and pedagogical intentions.
The architecture of the building springs from the idea that studying the law is not a solitary endeavor: study and practice depend on dialogue, discussion and debate, which, in turn, describe human interaction.
The architecture responds directly to the School’s desire to create a new identifiable campus center for student activity that maximizes natural light, air and accessibility to outdoor space. The renovation and expansion is a conceptual urban infill: its identity created not by a solid but by a void, a public common space that pulls together disparate elements of the campus; its focus is inward.
The design takes inspiration from two characteristics of its neighborhood: the scale of the surrounding residential homes and the canopy of trees that covers the entire area. The individual volumes of the addition’s classrooms recall the scale of the surrounding homes, while a prominent, landscaped green roof echoes the tree canopy and integrates the building with the surrounding landscape.
Perforated by skylights and a courtyard, open to the surrounding landscape and the sky above, capturing views of the School’s historic Trickett Hall and the Moot Courtroom, Lewis Katz Hall creates a sense of openness and accessibility, a feeling of connectivity to the School’s historic past and a projection of its progressive future.
Details
- Year
- 2010
- Location
- Carlisle, PA
- Size
- 82,000 GSF
- Program
- Library, Four 75-seat Classrooms, Three 30-seat Seminar Rooms, One 250-seat Auditorium/Lecture Room, One 50-seat Moot Courtroom, Faculty Offices, A/V Capabilities for Distance Learning
- LEED Silver
Team
- Ennead Design Team
- Richard Olcott, Timothy Hartung, Andrew Burdick, Kate Mann, Kevin McClurkan, Felicia Berger, M. Gregory Clawson, Chris Andreacola, Charmian Place, Sean Baumes, Christopher Lewis, Darla Elsbernd, Maxime Laurent, Steven Chang, Brian Masuda, Marcela Villarroel-Trindade, Ted Wagner
- Associate Architect
- Office for Planning and Architecture Inc.
- Photography
- Andrew Burdick/Ennead Architects, Jeff Goldberg/Esto, Aislinn Weidele/Ennead Architects
Awards
- 2010
- AIA Central Pennsylvania Honor Award for Architecture
Press
- 2010
- Cress, Joseph . "Dickinson School of Law Dedicates Renovated Building" (The Sentinel, 4/17/2010)
- 2009
- "Lewis Katz Building, Dickinson School of Law by Polshek Partnership Architects" (nikiomahe.com, 5/29/2009)
- "Lewis Katz Building Wins 'Project of the Year' Award" (Penn State Law, 12/4/2009)