Constructing the new nine-story education and residence building included retention and preservation of two historic façades that flank the new structure.
Founded in 1924, The Curtis Institute of Music is a full-scholarship music school located on Rittenhouse Square. The school acquired a mid-block parcel of land for a new education and residence building named for Gerry and Marguerite Lenfest, Curtis Board Chairman and Overseer, respectively.
Keast & Hood provided structural engineering for construction of a new 95,000-sf reinforced concrete building containing teaching studios, performance and rehearsal spaces, student residences, and dining facilities. The project was complicated by its mid-block location, retention of two historic façades flanking the new structure, and the need for significant acoustic detailing. Additional structural features include an outdoor plaza at the fifth floor and a large, clear-span rehearsal space on the second floor.
Lenfest Hall earned LEED Gold Certification, a 2012 Cast in Place Concrete Frame Award from the American Concrete Institute, a 2012 Grand Jury Award from the Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia, a 2012 Outstanding Project Award for Excellence in Structural Engineering from the Delaware Valley Association of Structural Engineers, and recognition as the Best Overall Project of the Year and Best Higher Education/Research Project of 2012 from ENR Mid-Atlantic Construction.
Constructing the new nine-story education and residence building included retention and preservation of two historic façades that flank the new structure.
Founded in 1924, The Curtis Institute of Music is a full-scholarship music school located on Rittenhouse Square. The school acquired a mid-block parcel of land for a new education and residence building named for Gerry and Marguerite Lenfest, Curtis Board Chairman and Overseer, respectively.
Keast & Hood provided structural engineering for construction of a new 95,000-sf reinforced concrete building containing teaching studios, performance and rehearsal spaces, student residences, and dining facilities. The project was complicated by its mid-block location, retention of two historic façades flanking the new structure, and the need for significant acoustic detailing. Additional structural features include an outdoor plaza at the fifth floor and a large, clear-span rehearsal space on the second floor.
Lenfest Hall earned LEED Gold Certification, a 2012 Cast in Place Concrete Frame Award from the American Concrete Institute, a 2012 Grand Jury Award from the Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia, a 2012 Outstanding Project Award for Excellence in Structural Engineering from the Delaware Valley Association of Structural Engineers, and recognition as the Best Overall Project of the Year and Best Higher Education/Research Project of 2012 from ENR Mid-Atlantic Construction.
CLIENT: Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates, Inc. (now VSBA, LLC)
LOCATION: Philadelphia, PA
TYPE: Academic, Cultural, Residential, SERVICES: Façade Assessment, Historic Preservation, New Construction, Restoration, Structural Intervention, MATERIALS: Concrete, Steel, SUSTAINABILITY: LEED, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Completed project photography © Tom Crane
Construction photography © Jeffrey Totaro
