Drexel Names Architects for New LeBow College of Business Building
December 28, 2009
Drexel University’s LeBow College of Business has selected Voith & Mactavish Architects LLP, in association with Robert A.M. Stern Architects LLP, to provide architectural, engineering, and interior design services for a new academic building on Drexel’s University City Main Campus.
The University’s Board of Trustees approved plans at its December meeting for a new building to house LeBow College of Business. The building’s initial plans call for the existing 57,000-square-foot Matheson Hall to be incorporated into a new structure that would add 125,000 square feet, bringing the total size of the new building to 182,000 square feet.
Philadelphia-based Voith & Mactavish Architects (VMA) has strong connections to Drexel. The firm’s co-founder and principal, Cameron Mactavish, earned his Bachelor of Architecture degree from Drexel in 1987. One of the firm’s signature projects is the award-winning rehabilitation of the Centennial Bank Building. Designed by Frank Furness to celebrate the nation’s first 100 years, the building today serves as Drexel’s Peck Alumni Center.
Robert A.M. Stern Architects (RAMSA) is based in New York City and was founded by Robert A.M. Stern, dean of the Yale School of Architecture. The firm has a broad portfolio of academic work that includes several buildings housing schools of business. These completed projects include buildings for the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia; Jones Graduate School of Business Management at Rice University; Mason School of Business at the College of William and Mary; and the School of Business at Ithaca College.
RAMSA’s experience includes designing contemporary academic buildings in existing urban settings, such as projects for the University of Pennsylvania, Brooklyn Law School, Columbia University, Southern Methodist University, and UCLA. The firm also has designed several high-profile corporate office buildings, including Philadelphia’s new 57-story Comcast Center, which is the tallest LEED gold-certified building in the nation.
