Smeal College of Business Administration

The new building for the Smeal College of Business Administration consolidates the College's graduate and undergraduate business programs previously dispersed across the Pennsylvania State University campus. Prominently located at the major campus entry, the new facility forms part of a new precinct whose centerpiece is the Meadow, a large sloping greensward. Our firm prepared architectural design guidelines for the precinct and designed the 210,000-square-foot, four-story Smeal Building along with an adjacent 1,280 car garage and a chiller plant.

The geometry of the Smeal College building conforms to the Meadow's arc and inflects to the new School of Forestry across its main axis. A south facing courtyard offers the College its own outdoor gathering space. The building is entered from Bigler Road, a major campus thoroughfare to the west, and through an entrance leading from the Meadow and garage to the east.

On the main level, the building comprises two rectilinear plan forms housing graduate and undergraduate classrooms and connected by a glazed lobby and a curved, four story glass atrium, which serves as a central gathering space expressing Smeal College's values of openness, transparency, and community. A 175 seat lecture hall opens onto the lobby, while undergraduate and graduate student lounges and a 125 seat café with outdoor dining open onto the atrium. Within the atrium, a sculptural staircase provides access to all levels and offers views across the Meadow to the mountains beyond. Administrative offices for the College share the second floor with its high technology instructional laboratories. The upper two floors house faculty and departmental offices for the entire Smeal faculty.

The building is clad primarily in red brick, with deep set windows and golden limestone accents. The metal and glass curtain walls enclosing the atrium and lobby extend upwards to encompass mechanical penthouses.

RAMSA Partners Robert A.M. Stern, Graham S. Wyatt, and Kevin Smith led the design.