Contract - January/February 2014 - 82

interiors awards

adaptive reuse

Client
drexel University
antoinette westphal
College of Media arts
and design (CoMad)

Location
Philadelphia

MSR
"A gutsy, courageous move brings new life to the building. It is a
resourceful adaptive reuse-a complicated surgery that changes
the character of the building. Chopping a hole in the center has
created a vibrant core. It looks like a fun place to be a student." JUrY

By Caroline Tiger
Photography by
Lara Swimmer

Before the UrBn Center came to fruition,
the various programs at drexel University's
antoinette westphal College of Media arts & design
(CoMad) were dispersed all over the school's
Philadelphia campus. this set-up was at odds with
CoMad's mission to encourage cross-collaboration
between disciplines, so the school decided to unite
students of architecture, product design, fashion
design, digital design, interior design, and graphic
design under one roof. instead of tearing down and
building anew, the school was "interested in taking
beauty that exists and transforming it," says
associate dean Peter Bartscherer.
the beauty that Bartscherer refers to is
the former institute for scientific information, a
four-story office building designed in 1978 by robert
Venturi and denise scott Brown as an example of
their concept of a "decorated shed." the exterior
mural, often likened to a colorful computer punch
card, communicated the work of data aggregation
that happened within, but the interior was generic
and meant to someday evolve. drexel hired
Minneapolis-based Msr to respectfully repurpose
82

quirky: thanks to the half floors, one might glimpse
the iconic landmark, leaving the exterior intact,
only legs instead of an entire person. "the hope is
save for the extension of two perimeter windows,
that by being exposed to other disciplines,
and transform the interior from a generic office
innovation is sparked," Lesneski says. "Curiosity
space into a dynamic design laboratory.
takes you into different studios and that exposure
Msr's major challenges were the lack of
informs your own work."
natural light and square footage, as CoMad's
overlap is further encouraged by shared studio
programming needs surpassed the space available.
space. what was once the architectural model lab is
the designers solved these challenges by calling
now the Hybrid Making Lab, open to all students
for the removal of portions of three existing floor
from all programs within the college. some of its
plates at the center of the building to create
most enthusiastic users are the fashion design
a new, light-filled four-story atrium with a glass
students, slicing into lace with laser cutters.
elevator and stairs of reclaimed maple. the square
Collisions and curiosity have already led to creative
footage lost by creating the atrium was gained by
collaborations. Product design and graphic design
inserting four new mezzanines-or "interstitial
students have come together for a few projects and,
floors" as the designers call them-populated with
for the first time, music students scored the 2013
studios, labs, classrooms, and faculty offices.
student fashion show.
an "interior street" of crisscrossing steel
Msr had the building's users in mind when
catwalks connects the half floors and contains
they stripped the interior down to its structural
flexible workspace and critique areas for each
bones and left it exposed. they knew the budding
department. Msr designed custom architectural
components such as pivoting, sliding, and bi-folding designers would have an innate curiosity about their
surroundings. "we wanted to expose how we
doors and walls to allow students and faculty to
inserted new into old so people could understand
adapt these spaces for learning, critiques,
how the building is stitched together," Lesneski says.
presentations, and exhibitions. overall, the new
"in this way, we are using the interior architecture as
scheme increased the amount of available space
part of the learning."
from 112,000 to 132,000 square feet.
the largely neutral interior color palette with
the catwalk, stairs, and elevator provide views
occasional bold accents echoes the colors on the
into classrooms and studios, which are primarily
building's famous exterior, while allowing the
transparent and open. traci engel Lesneski, a
student work inside to be the primary focus. "it's not
principal at Msr, says that someone standing in
all about, 'Hey, look at the building,'" Bartscherer
the atrium has 360-degree sight lines into every
says. "everything frames the student work." c
department. some of the views are unexpected and
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