Penn State, Susan Welch Liberal Arts Building

Engineering a Modern Center for Education and Research

The Susan Welch Liberal Arts Building was constructed on the University Park campus, with several College of the Liberal Arts academic units being relocated to the new building. The six-story building includes general-purpose classrooms, instructional laboratories, dry and wet research space, museum/collections space, faculty and student offices, and administrative support spaces. The lab program includes a gross anatomy suite, human subjects sampling lab, genetics and genomics labs, and computational research labs.

The building’s basement consists of mechanical rooms for all central building MEP services, and the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th Floors utilize local floor mechanical rooms equipped with a local floor air handling unit for the floor’s ventilation and air conditioning. Additional infrastructure, including the building’s electrical transformer and generator, is located outdoors on grade immediately adjacent to the building. The building utilizes campus utilities, including high-pressure steam and chilled water for the building’s thermal loads.

Location

University Park, PA

Client/Owner

The Pennsylvania State University

Architect

Bohlin Cywinski Jackson

Service