Designed in the Georgian colonial style, the new 12,500-sf McNeil Center for Early American Studies was engineered with an interior steel-framed spine.

Keast & Hood designed the masonry, steel, and wood structure for the two-story building. Constructed on spread footings, the McNeil Center has load-bearing CMU walls clad in red brick. An interior steel spine creates a central corridor - and outlines a colonial, center-hall floor plan - providing support structure for the interior wood-framed floors. The steel framework extends to the dormered attic level, where it supports a mechanical space and the building’s two decorative masonry chimneys. The design was complicated by parapet walls that cantilever over seven feet.

The McNeil Center provides a home for Early American Studies, including lecture space, administrative offices, and a research library.

Designed in the Georgian colonial style, the new 12,500-sf McNeil Center for Early American Studies was engineered with an interior steel-framed spine.

Keast & Hood designed the masonry, steel, and wood structure for the two-story building. Constructed on spread footings, the McNeil Center has load-bearing CMU walls clad in red brick. An interior steel spine creates a central corridor - and outlines a colonial, center-hall floor plan - providing support structure for the interior wood-framed floors. The steel framework extends to the dormered attic level, where it supports a mechanical space and the building’s two decorative masonry chimneys. The design was complicated by parapet walls that cantilever over seven feet.

The McNeil Center provides a home for Early American Studies, including lecture space, administrative offices, and a research library.

CLIENT: Robert A.M. Stern Architects
LOCATION: Philadelphia, PA

TYPE: Academic, SERVICES: New Construction, MATERIALS: Masonry, Steel, Wood, SUSTAINABILITY: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Completed project photography © Jeffrey Totaro