LaSalle opens new $35M business school building

LaSalle University has completed a $35 million building for its school of business that seeks to become a new beacon for its Northwest Philadelphia campus as it expands its footprint westward.

The school considered three sites for the 87,000-square-foot structure, including constructing it in the center of its campus. It ultimately chose a parcel it had acquired in 2007 at the intersection of Wister and Chew avenues. There, the school decided, it could create a landmark at what is one of the highest points in the city, said the Br. Joseph J. Willard, executive assistant to the school’s president.

 “We wanted to make a statement in the neighborhood that we are part of the neighborhood,” Willard said.

The design also took those ambitions into account.

“We wanted it to be a beacon that doesn’t turn its back on the neighborhood,” said Martin D. Kimmel of Kimmel Bogrette, the architectural firm that designed the building.

To that end, the building is nestled on a triangular plot that fits snugly within the neighborhood but still has an active presence along Olney Avenue. The exterior has a brick facade, which is a material seen on row houses throughout the community. That brick is broken up with expansive windows and a grand atrium in the front that, when illuminated at night, shines outward while at the same time invites the community to peer into the space.

While the facade sought to compliment the neighborhood, the interior was designed to reflect one of the school’s key teaching components and that's mentoring.

“Business education is a different enterprise today,” said Gary A. Giamartino, dean of the business school and a professor of management.

Aside from mentoring, it was important that the new building created an environment where students and teachers can collaborate, which is also among the key tenets of the school's approach to teaching. For the architects, there was a dilemma.

“How do you design a building that would encourage mentoring,” Kimmel said.

The architects decided that spaces for students and faculty would not be isolated form one another but combined. Faculty offices aren’t tucked away and the space is not organized by departments, which was also important to Giamartino, who noted that business takes in all disciplines whether its marketing or finance and not just one of them.

Break out spaces are located just outside of classrooms and lounge areas where students can gather are positioned just outside of faculty offices and classrooms. There is also a "sales laboratory." This special classroom allows students to be viewed through a one-way mirror, taped and then critiqued.

“In many ways, this is a game changer,” Giamartino said. “The building supports the education we have designed for the students.”

The building opened on Monday.

Source: Philadelphia Business Journal