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About the Architects
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The Episcopal Academy Newtown Square campus will be designed by four leading architectural firms:
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Robert Venturi '44
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Robert Venturi '44, Venturi, Scott, Brown and Associates
The Chapel
About Venturi, Scott, Brown and Associates
Robert Venturi, co-founder of firm Venturi, Scott, Brown and Associates is a graduate of The Episcopal Academy (Class of 1944) and won the Pritzker Prize for architecture-considered the world's premier architecture prize-in 1991. Venturi is known for being a controversial critic of the purely functional and spare designs of modern orthodox architecture and was considered a maverick in his field. He published his manifesto, Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture, in 1966.
Important works by his firm include the Sainsbury Wing of the National Gallery in London, the Provincial Capitol Building in Toulouse, France, and the Guild House and the Vanna Venturi House in Philadelphia. The Vanna Venturi House, designed for Venturi's mother, was recognized as a "Masterwork of Modern American Architecture" by the United States Postal Service in May 2005.
Robert Venturi describes his
design for the Chapel:
"A chapel for the Episcopal Academy I chose as the subject
for my Master’s thesis in 1950. I continue to love designing
such a project for its new context for a developing institution
with the many associates involved – this project with
its special new context, architectural and natural, as a building
central within the campus and accommodating symbolic, aesthetic,
spatial, and practical-programmatic needs.
• The chapel is to be an iconic
element as perceived immediately within the campus complex
by pedestrians and as perceived from a distance from moving
cars along Route 252 and from approaches to the center of
the complex within the campus by car.
• The chapel is to be also a harmonious element within
its immediate architectural and natural context, that of the
new campus complex and its landscape, via characteristics
of its design that are analogous and contrasting.
• The overall design of the chapel is also significantly
determined by its plan where the layout of the seating to
a significant extent surrounds the altar/sanctuary area so
that the worshipers/students face each other as well as face
the altar so a sense of togetherness and thereby a sense of
community is enhanced. The plan thereby in its configuration
as a kind of half-circle distinctly varies from the traditional
basilican plan of the Christian church with its longitudinal
nave where worshipers face only the altar/sanctuary. This
configuration was recommended by the chaplain at the beginning
of the design process and it has inspired us – as we
say as architects: we get our best ideas from our clients.
• The resultant cross-section of this plan indicates
the need for a sloped floor at the outer edges to accommodate
sight-lines toward the altar/sanctuary and also a series of
clerestories in the roof/ceiling to create an element of soaring
toward the altar/sanctuary and an effective increase in natural
light as aura toward the altar/sanctuary.
• Light as a significant element for creating aura via
clerestories of the roof design is described above. But light
also is important within the wall system but not via windows
as holes in the walls which create glare as they would be
directly faced via the system of pews facing the walls. Instead
the outdoor light enters indirectly between the over-lapping
layers of walls creating again aura. An exception occurs in
the east walls where big windows are inserted on each side
of the altar/sanctuary area to accommodate the request of
the client. A detailed system of light control will later
be designed for sunny mornings. Another place where you can
see directly outside is at the entrance toward the west so
you have contact with the outside central/communal center
of the campus complex.
• The significance of the steeple: soaring via the steeple
more than via the roof works for the outside – having
a more distinct iconic effect as seen from Route 252 and from
within the campus as a whole.
• The aesthetic of the exterior consists essentially
of that of layers – of layered walls and then above,
layered clerestories – this to accommodate varying heights
of the building as the eastern altar end is approached and
to break-up/articulate the mass as a whole. It is between
the overlapping layers that you can enter the building and
through which exterior light penetrates. The masonry walls
are ornamented via striped patterns to create the element
of small/friendly scale juxtaposed upon the composition as
a whole.
• Symbolic/iconographic architectural elements have
yet to be developed for the design except for the kind of
symbolic steeple emerging from the structural beam system
within and creating, again, via walls deriving from the system
of layers, silhouettes symbolizing the steeple to be seen
from close-up and afar."
April 26, 2006
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Philip Dordai, AIA, LEEDap
Nicholas Garrison, AIA, OAQ, LEED
Janet Garwood, ASLA
Michael Levin, AIA, LEEDap
James Garrison, AIA 75
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Hillier Architecture
Academic Building
About Hillier Architecture
Hillier Architecture is an international design firm that celebrated its 40th anniversary this past year. With offices in New York, Princeton, Philadelphia, Washington DC, and Shanghai, Hillier holds more than 200 awards for design excellence and has worked on projects across the United States and around the world.
Some of Hillier's projects include the Museum of African American Music, the U.S. Supreme Court Building, the Virginia State Capitol, the American School at Budapest, the Lawrenceville School, and the Sprint World Headquarters.
Hillier's Involvement in the Newtown Square Project
Hillier is the Master Architect for the new 123-acre campus for The Episcopal Academy in Newtown Square. In this role Hillier Architecture is
* coordinating the efforts of VSBA, Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, and The Gund Partnership who are designing components of the new campus;
* designing the four principal academic buildings -- the Lower School, Middle School, Upper School and Science Building;
* serving as Landscape Architect in designing the entry drive, the central Campus Green, athletic fields and the building courtyards;
* renovating the existing historic structures; and
* designing all exterior and interior wayfinding signage.
The site is a former dairy farm that was part of the DuPont family holdings in Delaware County. The rolling pastures and woods will accommodate almost 400,000 square feet of new program space while preserving several historic buildings and some sensitive wetlands. In addition to the academic buildings for grades pre-K through 12, the plan includes a chapel, campus center and athletic center for a current enrollment of about 1100 students.
The project is currently in the construction document phase and construction is expected to begin in September of 2006. The school intends to move their Devon and Merion campus students to the new location in September of 2008.
370,000 SF
Architecture
Interior Architecture
Graphic Design
Landscape Architecture
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Graham Gund
John A. Prokos
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Gund Partnership
Campus Center
About Gund Partnership
Graham Gund is president of Gund Partnership (www.gundpartnership.com), one of the country's leading architecture firms. Based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the firm was founded by Gund in 1971.
Notable buildings designed by the firm include the headquarters for the National Association of Realtors in Washington, D.C., the conservatory for the Cleveland Botanical Garden, the Lansburg Theater for the Shakespeare Folger Library in Washington, DC, and buildings on many American college campuses, including those of Harvard University and Kenyon College. The firm is also known for historic redevelopment projects including Bulfinch Square in Cambridge, MA and the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston.
Gund Partnership Describes the Campus Center
The new Campus Center for Episcopal Academy, together with the Chapel and the Academic Buildings, form the main outdoor rooms of the campus and organize open space in a rhythm that recalls the rural legacy of the site.
Perched along the west side of the main campus quadrangle and part of the main pedestrian circulation, the Campus Center is purposefully broken down in scale and materials to express different functions. Recalling Pennsylvania barn architecture, random ashlar stone is used with pitched roofs and small punched window openings in a domestic scale for the main house functions, focused around a courtyard.
The main house contains campus-wide commons uses, including a faculty commons area, headmasteršs office, admissions and the school store. The u-shaped circulation, which opens onto an intimate courtyard, mediates between the large scale of the main green and smaller dedicated outdoor spaces. This organization also mirrors similar massing at the academic building across the quad. The performing and visual arts are located across the bar of the U. A 600-seat multi-purpose courtyard-style theatre contains two tiers for the main orchestra and balcony plus a catwalk level. The arts house also includes a black box theater, seating 150-180 in a variety of configurations. Choral rehearsal and band rehearsal spaces are located across the corridor from the theater and open out into the courtyard.
Building service and loading is from the lower level. To activate the main house corridors, the circulation features small skylights that filter light across an atrium-like organization, with double height windows featuring distant views into the landscape at the ends of the corridors. Art classrooms overlook an outdoor sculpture garden.
Wrapping the gabled forms are two symmetrical wings of one and a half stories each. The library at northeast edge of the campus has a main entry that engages the chapel and academic building, with open vistas to the athletic fields to the north. Double-height windows are used to elevate and inspire the library experience and draw students into the main reading rooms. A stone base wraps wood exteriors for both the library and the dining hall functions, located on the southwest edge of the complex, with distant views toward the existing farm buildings.
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Bernard Cywinski
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Bohlin Cywinski Jackson
The Athletic Center
About Bohlin Cywinski Jackson
Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, founded in 1965, is known for exceptional design, for its commitment to the particularity of place and user, and for an extraordinary aesthetic based on a quiet rigor, which is both intellectual and intuitive.
The firm's work includes the new Apple retail store on Fifth Avenue in New York, Bill Gates' house, the new Liberty Bell Center in Philadelphia, the Seattle City Hall Building, and the Pixar Studios headquarters in Emeryville, CA. BCJ has received more than 310 regional, national and international awards for design. In 1994, the practice received the Architecture Firm Award from the American Institute of Architects.
Bernard J. Cywinski describes his
firm's design for the Athletic Center:
"The school can look forward to having the premier independent
school athletic facility in the region. With a competition
court arena for basketball and volleyball, with bleachers
for 1250 people, a top of the line 6-lane 25-yard swimming
pool with spectator seating for 300 and 10 squash courts with
tiered seating for 100 spectators or more, the school can
host an extraordinary number of events throughout the year.
More important is the availability of a broad range of athletic
and fitness amenities that the center will offer to the entire
student body. In addition to these three major activity spaces,
aerobic and cardiovascular exercise rooms, wrestling room,
a 3-court fieldhouse, commodious locker rooms for the upper
and lower schools and attendant trainers area, laundry and
staff offices will round out a comprehensive, inclusive athletic
and wellness program which will greatly enhance the student
experience at Episcopal.
Perhaps the most exciting feature of the building is the
way the students and visitors will experience this lively
and interactive place full of opportunities to participate,
grow and excel. The center is spacious, full of natural light
and dramatically revealed as one journeys from the welcoming
entry porch through the transparent lobby to the various venues
along the Hall of Achievement flanked by trophies, memorabilia,
class shields and views into the main floor activities. Alternatively
one can climb the stairs and cross a bridge with dramatic
views to the pool below enroute to the spectator seating or
continue to the squash courts and fieldhouse beyond, enjoying
overlooks into the lobby, Hall of Achievement, the pool and
the arena below. All in all, the center will provide a place
of community, shared experience and pride through participation
in this critical aspect of life at Episcopal Academy."
April 24, 2006
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| The Episcopal Academy * Merion: 376 N Latches Lane, Merion, PA, 19066 610-667-9612 * Devon: 905 S. Waterloo Road, Devon, PA, 19333 610-293-0830 |
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