Schellhase Commons on the Ursinus College campus is home to bustling social activity for students, as well as a welcoming place for prospective students, a gathering space for alumni and a meeting spot for the local community. In the design phase, Schellhase Commons was envisioned as a 16,800-sq.-ft. addition to Keigwin Hall and would be the product of new construction and renovation. The charge was to maintain the historical nature of the hall and fuse it with the new space, which would house a bookstore, an entertainment area and an admissions suite with meeting rooms. Architects needed a building envelope solution for Schellhase Commons that would be both classic and modern, tying the his

An inspired tweak to a standard Solatube offering puts an exclamation point on a space to inspire reading and learning. Create a state-of-the-art library that would serve as a focal point for the school, and find a way to bring daylight into the space with a unique aesthetic, as lighting was to be one of the key elements in the overall design of the library. Sunnyvale Independent School District was driven to create a new type of school design due to a shift in the way they were educating their students. The Intermediate school was their first new building under this change and was designed to align the built environment with the educational platform thus supporting the new style of interact

KWK Architects, partnering with CannonDesign, has completed a 15- to 20-year renovation masterplan for the University of Central Missouri’s Elliott Student Union, a 165,000-sq.-ft. social hub affectionately known as the “campus living room.” Most recently, kwk completed design and construction administration for implementing Phase 1 of the masterplan, which included a redesigned, modern main entrance and a new 280-seat multi-purpose auditorium addition. The total construction cost of Phase I was approximately $7 million. The new entrance was completed in fall 2019, while the new auditorium was completed in spring 2020.The planning team worked closely with university leaders

The Bronx’s Grand Concourse Academy Charter School found the right mix that helped the school stand out in the neighborhood—becoming a bright, engaging, inviting place—and stand up to the elements as well. Lubrano Ciavarra Architects (LCA) saw two great challenges when they set about designing Grand Concourse Academy Charter School. One, they needed to make the school stand out amid the sea of red brick that pervades the Bronx neighborhood. And two, they had to design a building that would stand up to the elements—wind, rain, snow and, of course, kids being kids.