New ‘quad’ on Hill Field
Hill Field has long been rumored to be the site of new construction. But with every rumor, it seemed, the same question would follow: “What about the green space?”
Penn officials have answered that question with the announcement that, although Hill Field will be the site of a long-awaited new College House, the green-space core of Hill Field will be preserved, and even improved, as part of the plan.
“In there you’ll have something almost like another Quad,” says Anthony Sorrentino, executive director of public affairs in the Office of the Executive Vice President. “It’s going to be similar to what we have down on Spruce Street.”
The University last week announced that it had selected Vancouver, Canada-based Patkau Architects to head up the College House project, which is actually not just one building, but three. The new College House buildings, each likely to stand about three or four stories tall, will be scattered around the perimeter of Hill Field—one on 34th Street between Chestnut and Sansom streets, one at 33rd and Chestnut, and one on Chestnut. Preliminary plans call for about 340 suite-style units, each with three or four bedrooms.
“We know there’s a demand among the students to live on campus,” Sorrentino says.
Patkau is a good fit for the job: The 25-year-old design firm has completed projects for a variety of clients, including universities. Among its most recent projects are designs for the Natural History Museum and Biodiversity Research Laboratory at the University of British Columbia, an interdisciplinary Center for Music, Art and Design at the University of Manitoba and an ‘ecological’ hotel in Beacon, New York.
Penn officials have for some time now hoped to increase housing options for students and others east of 40th Street. The idea, Sorrentino says, is to try to keep as much life as possible concentrated in the core of campus—the areas between Chestnut and Spruce and between 30th and 40th streets. The new Hill Field College House buildings will help move toward that goal, but significant progress has already been made, Sorrentino notes. New apartment buildings including Domus at 34th and Chestnut, the Radian at 40th and Walnut and the HUB at 40th and Chestnut have all proved popular, with the HUB already fully occupied and The Radian sold out even before its opening.
“You want as many students concentrated at the core as possible,” he says. “We realize there will always be students living in University City and West Philadelphia and even Center City, but by providing space for 1,000 students to live in the core, we can make Penn a vibrant, safe, vital urban campus.”
Originally published April 10, 2008.
