New Building

The soon-to-open, 12-story, 177,500-square-foot home for LeBow College of Business is located at the heart of the Drexel University campus, at the intersection of Woodland Walk and Market Street, where it forms a gateway to Drexel and a backdrop to the historic statue of A. J. Drexel (Moses Ezekiel, 1904). The diagonal massing of the lower floors follows Woodland Walk and combines with the new Papadakis Integrated Sciences Building (Diamond & Schmitt, 2011) to energize the University’s central quadrangle. The building’s tower will mark the LeBow College and Drexel campus from all directions while the open, glassy Market Street façade will showcase the College’s student activities to passersby.

The building’s organization unites the school’s various constituencies around a five-story-high atrium ringed by classrooms, student lounges, events spaces, and offices. The third floor houses the Baiada Institute for Entrepreneurship. The atrium is immediately accessible from main entrances at the three corners of the building. An open stair within the atrium leads to a 300-seat auditorium and 100-seat lecture hall one floor below and to a divisible multipurpose room and additional classrooms above. The building’s upper floors contain faculty offices interspersed with seminar rooms and group study rooms. The top floor houses the Dean’s suite and a boardroom and conference suite that opens to east- and west-facing terraces.

The building’s warm masonry and glass exterior reflects the emerging vocabulary of the next generation of Drexel buildings. Sophisticated solar shading devices allow maximum transparency between the inside and outside while supporting the building’s high environmental aspirations.

Key Building Features

  • Five-story atrium
  • Finance trading lab with Bloomberg Terminal Room
  • 300-seat auditorium
  • 160-seat event space
  • 100-seat lecture hall
  • 45-seat faculty seminar room
  • Four 45-seat computer classrooms
  • Three 60-seat classrooms
  • Two 50-seat classrooms
  • Two 45-seat EMBA classrooms
  • Two 24-seat classrooms
  • Special areas for experiential learning simulations and business consulting
  • Videoconferencing capabilities
  • Integrated teaching technology in all classrooms
  • Recording studio to support LeBow College’s online programs
  • Extensive areas for students to gather socially and for collaborative study, including 12 student collaboration rooms, two quiet study areas, and 3,500 square feet of student social space
  • EMBA Alumni Lounge for the exclusive use of EMBA alumni
  • Behavioral Studies Lab
  • Café
  • Baiada Center for Entrepreneurship with incubator space for new companies
  • Green Globe certifiable, meeting worldwide sustainability standards

About the Architects

  • Robert A.M. Stern Architects LLP

    New York, N.Y.

    A 220-person firm of architects, interior designers, and supporting staff. Over its 41-year history, the firm has established an international reputation as a leading design firm with wide experience in residential, commercial, and institutional work. As the firm’s practice has diversified, its geographical scope has widened to include current projects in Europe, Asia, South America, and throughout the United States. The firm maintains an attention to detail and commitment to design quality which has earned international recognition, numerous awards and citations for design excellence, including National Honor Awards of the American Institute of Architects, and a lengthening list of repeat clients.

  • Voith & Mactavish Architects LLP

    Philadelphia, Pa.

    Voith & Mactavish Architects, founded in 1988 and with a staff of 25 talented and dedicated professionals, is an architecture, preservation, planning, landscape, and interiors firm licensed to provide design services throughout the New England and Mid-Atlantic regions. The firm is committed to the highest quality design and service, believing that great architecture comes from innovation within the context of tradition. With a national reputation for an ability to work within significant architectural contexts in a knowledgeable and sympathetic manner, the firm offers the flexibility to provide expert services in renovation, restoration, additions, new construction, and site development.