Penn State Planning New Liberal Arts Building

Penn State’s Board of Trustees last week approved an architect for a new Liberal Arts Research and Teaching Building on the University Park campus.

Bohlin Cywinski Jackson of Wilkes-Barre was selected to design the approximately 134,000-square-foot building to be constructed between the Ford Building and Mateer Building along Fischer Road and Park Avenue, on the northwest portion of campus. The site is currently a parking lot. 

According to bid documents, the estimated project cost is $112 million and the building was included for funding in the university’s 2018-2023 five-year capital plan.

The new building will be home to units currently in multiple other locations on campus, including: the School of Public Policy; departments of anthropology, political science, sociology and criminology; the McCourtney Institute for Democracy; the Population Research Institute; and departments in the School of International Affairs.

Anticipated completion of the new building is in 2023.

“This new space will create dynamic learning opportunities for our students, spur even more innovative research encompassing an array of disciplines among our faculty, and strengthen the college’s reputation as one of the premier liberal arts institutions in the country,” Clarence Lang, the Susan Welch Dean of the College of the Liberal Arts, said in a news release. “Most Penn State students regardless of their major take nearly one-third of their classes in the liberal arts, so it’s safe to say that nearly every Penn State student will benefit in some way from the construction of this new building.” 

The building will contain classrooms, research and instructional laboratories, museum space, faculty and graduate student offices, and administrative support areas, according to the bid documents.

Among other goals to centralize closely related departments and provide state-of-the art facilities, the new building also will replace the functions of Oswald Tower, which will be demolished, according to a request for letters of interest issued in March. Oswald Tower has an ‘inefficient layout and extensive deferred maintenance backlog,’ the letter said.

Bohlin Cywinski Jackson was selected as architect, based on its work with similar projects, including the Biobehavioral Health Building at University Park.