BSA Gala 2016

Last night we celebrated the 5th Annual BSA Design Awards Gala at the InterContinental Hotel. The evening included remarks from the 2016 BSA President Tamara Roy AIA, Ted Landsmark Associate AIA (recipient of the BSA Honor Award) and Mike Davis FAIA. Jared Bowen of WGBH and Rachel Slade of Boston Magazine joined the festivities as well.

PAYETTE was fortunate to celebrate two projects winning awards in two different categories. The Temple University Health Sciences Campus Framework Plan was recognized by the Campus and Urban Planning Awards Program with a Citation. The Eva J. Pell Laboratory for Advanced Biological Studies at Penn State University earned a Citation from the Honors Awards Program.

Temple University | Health Sciences Campus Framework Plan

After decades of sporadic and haphazard growth and expansion, the Temple University Health Sciences Center (HSC) needs a compelling vision to guide its future, with the express goal of remaining within its existing footprint. A cluster of professional schools in medicine, pharmacy, dentistry and health professions, co-located with Temple’s primary teaching hospital, the HSC represents a robust concentration of health sciences programs.

However, it has yet to achieve a cohesive, well-defined and easily identifiable campus. The framework plan addresses a range of programs to meet the needs of the HSC for the next 20 years: consolidation of healthcare and expansion of ambulatory care; new multidisciplinary research facilities; campus life functions, retail and mixed-use residential; academic expansion.

Envisioning an urban campus for Temple’s Health Sciences Center, the plan creates a new, central open space and embraces Broad Street as the organizational spine of the campus. Placement of public spaces, lobbies and retail on the ground floor will activate this spine and improve campus safety by putting “eyes on the street.” Market analysis suggests that there is already strong demand from graduate and professional students for on-campus housing, as well as 30,000 SF of new retail space. Modest initial projects for campus housing and retail will serve as catalysts for transforming the HSC into a working and living community.

Penn State University | Eva J. Pell Laboratory for Advanced Biological Studies

The Pell Lab houses some of the most cutting edge infectious disease research in the world in a “BSL-3 Enhanced” biocontainment facility where scientists study aerosol and insect transmitted diseases such as H5N1 (Avian influenza), Yersinia Pestis (Plague), and Tuberculosis as well as insect transmitted viruses such as West Nile Virus and Francisella Tularensis (Tularamia), in a safe and secure environment.

The Pell Lab’s most distinctive feature is its undulating roof form, which houses a complex array of mechanical systems and provides a dynamic silhouette against the tree-lined horizon. The zinc clad roof form collects the twin bars of concrete block laboratories that straddle a central spine framing dramatic landscape views at each end. A shifting of the two laboratory bars along the spine frames the building’s main entrance. Fenestration is articulated as a series of vertical slices across the laboratory bars to facilitate building transparency — framing views on each side of the corridor.