PENN STATE UNIVERSITY - DICKINSON SCHOOL OF LAW
UNIVERSITY PARK, PENNSYLVANIA
The proposed Dickinson School of Law is situated within a 12.5-acre field in the University’s agricultural district. Hargreaves Associates worked with Polshek Partnership Architects and the University to locate the building in response to the sensitive Flower Garden site as well as the future Arboretum site to the south and the intramural athletic fields to the north. The open space program includes flexible gathering spaces to the south that can accommodate alumni functions and graduation, intimate gathering areas to the north, an outdoor café terrace, an arrival plaza, and parking for 347 cars. These program elements are organized around a framework that accentuates the existing topography on the site with stepped-lawn terraces to the south and reading gardens to the north. This framework penetrates the building and serves as a backbone for the composition of interior circulation and classrooms on the ground floor level. The topography is further accentuated by an overlay of an abstracted “remnant orchard” that relates the building and the landscape to the larger field within which they are situated. The majority of storm water on the Law School site will either infiltrate the site in place or will be directed to the Flower Garden via a level spreader at the eastern end of the building. An extensive green roof will also help mitigate the rate and quantity of storm water runoff.
