Board Approves Sketch Plans For New IST Building
January 19, 2001
University Park, Pa. — Penn State’s Board of Trustees today (Jan. 19) approved sketch/preliminary plans for a new building for the University’s School of Information Sciences and Technology (IST).

The building’s unique design, inspired by the Ponte Vecchio bridge in Florence, Italy, is the work of Rafael Viñoly/Perfido Weiskopf Joint Venture of New York City and Pittsburgh.

The IST building will literally bridge Atherton Street, a busy thoroughfare that divides the core campus from the rapidly growing west campus, with a pedestrian-safe walkway. A joint project of IST and Penn State’s computer science and engineering department, the building will also serve as an "academic bridge" that links the humanistic and scientific domains of Penn State’s curriculum, says IST Dean James B. Thomas.

The building will "bring together in one place the disciplines of the information sciences and information technology," says Thomas. It will also "showcase a broad range of faculty and student work, and industry solutions in technology." he says.

A steel-framed structure with exteriors of brick, glass and aluminum framing, the IST building is expected to quickly become a campus landmark. It will encompass nearly 180,000 gross square feet.

The estimated total project budget is $58.5 million. Construction is expected to begin in fall 2001 and end in 2003.

Rafael Viñoly Architects, PC, is an award-winning, internationally recognized architectural firm with offices in New York, Tokyo and Buenos Aires. The firm’s work includes the Philadelphia Regional Performing Arts Center, the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh, the Princeton Stadium, the Lehman College Physical Education Facility, and the Tokyo International Forum.

Many of Viñoly’s projects have been reviewed in national and international publications, including The New York Times, Architectural Record, Architectural Review, Nuestra Arquitectura, and Japan Architecture.

Perfido Weiskopf Associates has broad experience in a wide variety of building types and sizes. Its work includes educational facilities for colleges and universities, office buildings, retail stores, galleries, theaters, and parking structures.

Its work includes the facilities for Marconi Communications (formerly FORE Systems) in Warrendale, renovation of the state Capitol building in Harrisburg, and numerous projects in the Pittsburgh region.

Eliza Pennypacker, director of campus planning and design, presented the plans to the board and noted that the IST building will serve as a gateway between the core campus and the west campus.

The inspiration for the IST building design, the Ponte Vecchio bridge -- in addition to spanning the Arno River -- is an inhabited, highly traveled pedestrian walkway and home to much-visited shops.

"The spine of the IST building will comprise a ‘campus connector’ for pedestrians and bicycles that will be an extension of the Pollock Road mall," Pennypacker said. "Along the way, people will encounter classrooms, IST displays, an atrium, and a café. It will be an effective and enjoyable way to get people safely across Atherton Street."

Flanking the campus connector, at the second-floor level, will be classrooms and study rooms. The building’s "cybertorium" — a high-tech, 150-seat auditorium equipped with the latest in information technology, including wireless links and internal and external communications nets — will be accessible from the second floor.

The first floor, on opposite sides of Atherton Street, will house administrative offices for IST, the IST Solutions Institute, and administrative offices for the computer science department. Also on the first-floor level are classrooms, and additional access to the cybertorium. Stairwells will make the bridge accessible from street level.

The third floor will house faculty and graduate student offices along the central core, research laboratory spaces along the central core, and meeting rooms.

A park-like campus setting with curving walks that connect to existing campus walkways, along with mature plantings, will enhance the IST building site, Pennypacker said.

Contact: Alan Janesch at 814/865-7517 or via e-mail at ajanesch@psu.edu. For more information on the IST building and IST programs, point your Web browser to http://www.ist.psu.edu. To arrange interviews with IST Dean James B. Thomas, contact Charles C. DuBois at 814/865-4458 or via e-mail at ccd@psu.edu.