Located at the heart of Philadelphia University's campus, a 38,500-sq-ft, four-story building was constructed to support the recently established Kanbar College of Design, Engineering and Commerce. It houses five double-height studio spaces and classrooms that can be reconfigured for different needs. A two-story, daylighted forum links the first two floors and serves as a central meeting space. On the first floor, a workshop for industrial prototypes offers overhead garage-door access in a space filled with natural light.
The building features a curved, perforated aluminum screen, known as the "veil." The architect's selected finish material—a corrugated, perforated, anodized aluminum sheet—had never been used this way before, project officials say, prompting a significant research effort for the team. The exterior skin system comprises precast panels and an aluminum curtain wall, along with structural steel and concrete on a metal deck. A primary project goal was to preserve enough of the budget to allow for the building of the veil.