Sackett Building | Pennsylvania State University

The Sackett Building is located on the core of Penn State’s University Park Campus in a prominent location along Pattee Mall.  The original central portion of the Sackett Building was designed by Charles Klauder and constructed in 1929, with later additions constructed in 1958.  The project features the full renovation of the existing building and the replacement of the 1958 additions with new structures.

The original building is 3 stories in height with an occupied attic and contains approximately 40,000 GSF of offices, administrative spaces, and classrooms.  The basement is one story on the north end of the building and two-stories on the south end.  The project will reconfigure the fourth-floor attic, reconfigure the original stair openings, and introduce a new elevator and feature stair on the first floor.  The extent of modifications in the structure required seismic analysis and the introduction of new shear walls for lateral resistance.

The 1958 wings will be demolished and replaced with new additions that are smaller in plan but can accommodate modern program requirements, a new elevator, and a new mechanical equipment.  Each addition will contain approximately 16,000 GSF with large auditorium spaces on the ground floor requiring long-span structural steel framing and transfer trusses.  The varying geology requires different foundations systems for the north and south additions.