Tepper Quad

Dan J on April 9, 2023

The Tepper Quad project is a new center-of-campus home for the Tepper School of Business that promotes an enhanced ecosystem of cross-campus collaboration. The project creates an iconic gateway to the developing north campus, reimagines the intersection of campus and city, and visually connects to the historic campus core.

The Tepper School of Business is known for its distinguished faculty, its strength in analytics as the birthplace of management science, and for interdisciplinary collaboration. The new Tepper Quad is a HUB for creativity and innovation that represents Carnegie Mellon University’s future vision as a place of confluence; an ecology of active learning, research and resources; and a three-dimensional network of community building spaces.

The building’s central atrium is a light-filled gathering and study space that interconnects the diverse programs within. A flat slab structure combined with an accessible raised floor enables a “plug and play” of systems throughout to support changing programs, pedagogies, and technology. An innovative concrete bubble deck structure reduces concrete material by 35% and thereby embodied energy. Integrated passive and active design strategies address Pittsburgh’s climate and critical concerns of comfort, durability, and maintainability.

Community Commons

Dan J on April 8, 2023

The University of Denver’s Community Commons welcomes an increasingly diverse community and brings a critical mass of students and resources to the heart of the school’s urban campus. The project’s fluid shaping funnels and mixes students, capturing movement to and from the neighboring first-year residence hall with a variety of spaces for dining, socializing, and studying.

The Commons strengthens the campus identity and recognizes that less formal buildings appeal to today’s students. The building conveys a sense of openness and invitation through transparency and reinforces an sense of belonging by celebrating multiple cultures and bringing student-focused services together. Food service strategically unites the entire campus community while generous openings interconnect multi-levels creating a rich mosaic of spatial experience. A central canyon-like space, with a north-facing clerestory, brings in equitable access to daylight.

On the building’s exterior, patterned local copper is inspired by the geological context of local canyons. At the roof level, an unexpected pavilion with multi-use space is surrounded by the largest green roof on campus, with stunning 360-degree views of the complete campus and distant Rocky Mountains. High-performance systems and nature integrated design solutions reduce the building’s energy use by 49% below ASHRAE baseline.

Robert E. Coyle United States Courthouse

Dan J on March 31, 2023

The Robert E. Coyle United States Courthouse expresses the kind of openness we have come to demand of our public institutions, despite today’s increased concern for security. Additionally, its nine-story stature adds a new landmark to downtown Fresno. The courthouse building achieves even greater community impact by adding to the city a major public garden, large multi-use lobby, café, library, rooftop viewing terrace, and other public amenities as well.

The design of the courthouse is all about place. The L-shape plan of the building frames a large public garden that blurs boundaries between inside and outside. This space becomes a shady green oasis that provides a welcome refuge for the courthouse community and celebrates the San Joaquin Valley.

The courthouse is a local landmark and the tallest addition to the city’s skyline in decades. The shaping of the courthouse draws on the power of the nearby Sierra Nevadas and the monumentality of the massing is brought into a more human scale through the smaller patterning of the precast panels. The faceted panels are a unique response to the specific climate and region and create a dynamic façade which responds to the changing light and weather.

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