Penn’s New College House Named ACE Urban Project of the Year

The University of Pennsylvania's New College House, designed by Bohlin Cywinski Jackson Architects and constructed by INTECH Construction, has received the 2016 Urban Project of the Year awarded by the Architecture, Construction and Engineering Mentor Program of Eastern Pennsylvania. 

When it opens in August, the New College House at 34th and Chestnut streets will be Penn's first residential building specifically designed as a college house. The project was honored both for its important mark on Philadelphia's design and construction community and for the University’s ongoing and substantial involvement with the ACE Mentor Program. 

Both Penn’s Facilities and Real Estate Services Division and the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania have hosted ACE teams for the past two years. During the 2015-16 school year, Facilities and Real Estate Services mentored eleven students from Mastery Charter School’s Shoemaker Campus in West Philadelphia in after school activities on a bi-weekly basis. Using Penn’s New College House as the base project for exploration, members of Penn’s Facilities and Real Estate Services team, along with professionals from both the architectural and engineering team led by BCJ Architects and the construction team led by INTECH Construction, developed activities to teach skill-building in areas such as site construction, project management, architectural drawing, estimating and structural design.

This year’s Facilities and Real Estate Services ACE mentor team, including Mariette Buchman, Dave Dunn and Sue Long, all of the design and construction department, and Marilyn Jost of FRES administration also received a 2016 Models of Excellence Honorable Mention from Penn for their work on the project. Project Manager Rafael DeLuna, also of design and construction, was an additional contributor to the team, and will lead the 2016-17 school year ACE mentor team.

The ACE Mentor Program encourages high school students to pursue careers in architecture, engineering and construction through mentoring that advances the industry. The Eastern Pennsylvania ACE division draws high school students from many Philadelphia public schools and gives them exposure by providing scholarships and opportunities to work with real professionals in real office environments.   

View images of the award-winning FRES ACE mentorship project here

Story Photo