Perry World House: Building a New Hub for Penn’s Growing International Activities

Slated to open in the spring, the University of Pennsylvania’s Perry World House will be a hub for Penn’s growing international activities, anchoring its global resources on an interdisciplinary campus while creating cutting-edge strategic partnerships abroad.

Construction, which began in 2014, on the new 17,400-square-foot, $18.95-million project is approximately 40 percent complete and being overseen by construction manager Daniel J. Keating Company. The “topping off,” in which a crane secured the uppermost beam atop the building’s frame, signifying the completion of the structural phase of the building, took place in July. By the start of the current academic year, the design form was visible.

While awaiting the completion of the physical facility, the House leadership is engaged in its programmatic agenda.

“Perry World House will offer Penn a platform to participate in key policy debates about the world’s most pressing global challenges, further positioning the University as a global agenda setter,” says Ezekiel Emanuel, vice provost for global initiatives.

Established through a gift from University Trustee Richard C. Perry and his wife, Lisa Perry, the Perry World House will create a place connecting faculty and students across all of Penn’s 12 schools with scholars and policymakers from around the globe.

The design by 1100 Architect incorporates and partially preserves an existing Samuel Sloan-designed house on Penn’s campus. The southern entrance at 38th Street and Locust Walk includes a landscaped forecourt and Lounge that retains the house’s signature bay window.

“By taking part of the house and fusing it with a new structure, the end product will be a kind of built ‘collage,’ with the new bluntly touching the old, respecting tradition but being forward thinking, both physically and academically,” says University Architect David Hollenberg. “The new building reinterprets the neo-Gothic architectural language of the original volume and attaches a dynamically-shaped form.”

This hub will have several flexible classroom and conference spaces, including the World Forum, a glass-enclosed central 150-seat meeting space for lectures by visiting policymakers and international scholars. The facility will also house 14 offices for staff and visiting scholars.

As with every new building on Penn’s campus, the project is targeting a LEED Silver rating. Additional information about the Perry World House is available at www.pennconnects.upenn.edu.

View an album of the building's construction in progress here.

William Burke-White Appointed Inaugural Perry Professor and Director of Perry World House at Penn