Schreyer Honors College Interior Renovation

Penn State University

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CLIENT GOALS

PSU desired to renovate and update a group of communal spaces on the ground and first floors of Atherton Hall.

The goal of the Honors College was to update the look and feel of the space, allowing its use to correspond to the current student life and students’ identity and values. The new finishes, furniture and lighting should reset the tone from old and institutional to new and modern with a sense of wellbeing and community engagement. The newly upgraded spaces will create a variety of workspaces and seating arrangements, inviting groups of different sizes to engage. They will also include intimate spaces that provide privacy where students can study on their own. Changes to space will be respectful to its historic character.

SOLUTIONS

We used three main elements to drive the improvements. Those were the lighting, finishes, and the circulation flow. All the old lighting was replaced with dimmable LED, the exiting flooring, ceiling, and paint were replaced with modern materials, and the front and back of the house connected through new openings. We introduced wood into the ceilings and the walls to create texture, and to connect the vertical and horizontal surfaces and create a flowing motion between the two.

RESULTS

The result was a brighter and more inviting environment that the students loved.