Project Hive

[Spring 2013]

Professor:  Sandra Staub / ARCH 332: Architectural Design IV

Project Duration: 12 Weeks

The studio project for this semester was to design the student union building for the University of the Arts (UArts) in Philadelphia. UArts is located in the center of Philadelphia along Broad Street, between Walnut and South Street. This part of Broad Street is also called the “Avenue of the Arts” to emphasize the many art institutions in this area. The student union building was be located directly across the Kimmel Center, the home of the Philadelphia Orchestra. The University of Arts wished that the new student union building would express a vibrant community of both visual and performing artists. This means emphasizing spaces for collaboration, exhibition, performance, pop-up projects, etc., along with services such as a bookstore.  An exterior space that can be used for temporary exhibits and events is desired to give the University more visual presence. 

Project Goals:

Create a building that becomes a vessel for ideas through flexible collaborative spaces and a building that becomes a container for the collision of ideas through a central circulation core. Altogether, the building becomes a capsule for creation sourced from the urban environment around the students.