The University of Pennsylvania Law School is beginning construction on a new building, courtroom and auditorium.
The approximately $30 million project also includes a renovation of the student lounge. Law school officials say the lounge’s facelift will be finished in time for a January 2011 opening.
This summer, crews will demolish Pepper Hall on Sansom Street — one of Penn Law’s four adjoining buildings — and erect in its place a new building with a rooftop garden, state-of-the-art courtroom, 350-seat auditorium and dramatic new glass entrance.
Designed by architects at Boston’s Kennedy & Violich, the new building will have three stories on its eastern edge, which touches Silverman Hall, and two stories with a roof deck on its western end. It will also be LEED certified — making it one of the first law schools in the country to be designated to meet the environmentally sound building standard. The 18-month project is expected to be complete in January of 2012.
Penn Law Dean Michael Fitts said the new building completes a 10-year transformation of the campus, and it will be the perfect environment in which to study law and engage the mind.
Penn Law will be setting up a blog in the coming weeks so people can follow the progression of the project. Visit www.law.upenn.edu/about/newbuilding/ to keep up-to-date on the project.
