Projects
Willman Business Center, York College of Pennsylvania
York, PA
A Place of Opportunity
York College of Pennsylvania has a very strong business program, but the building in which it was housed needed updating and significant expansion to accommodate all of its faculty and desired programming. Located close to local York businesses and corporations, the program offered its enrolled students many advantages but needed contemporary classrooms, trading labs and support spaces with built-in flexibility to adapt as the curriculum advances. The design result was a five-story addition and renovations to house all business administration faculty in one building and facilitate active, hands-on learning experiences and spontaneous collaboration.
Connection to the Campus
The building needed to display outwardly what was going on inside. A sleek corporate design was selected, but it had to fit in aesthetically with the other brick buildings on campus. Due to the existing building’s location on the campus quad, the expansion was situated so that all angles of approach are welcoming and connected to the center of campus. The end result is a primarily brick façade facing the campus quad and merging with the other buildings, with refined metal and glass surfaces facing outwards, capitalizing on the city views.
A Modern Setting for Modern Students
The inside of the building features an expansive two-story lobby equipped with a NASDAQ ticker. Further inside are nine smart classrooms with seating for 40 students each, a 150-seat auditorium, a commerce lab, and a corporate training center. Other additions include offices, collaborative research areas, and breakout rooms that promote spontaneous learning. The building is capped with Yorkview Hall, a multipurpose space enclosed in glass, capable of seating 300 people for diverse events. Yorkview Hall opens out onto terraces with panoramic views of the city of York.
Award: American School & University 2014 Architectural Portfolio Outstanding Design
Photo Credit: Nathan Cox Photography
Recording Studio – York College of Pennsylvania
York, PA
World Class Recording Studio Created by Re-Purposing Classrooms
YCP Studios, the new recording studio on campus was made possible by re-purposing existing space within an academic building where other music department classes were already taking place and which has served as an informal gathering space for musicians. The new on-campus recording studio opened the door for students to not only gain hands-on experience with professional recording equipment, but also allowed them the opportunity to create the York Music Group, which in turn manages its own record label – YCP Records.
The newly formed York Music Group also books entertainment through its event planning and promotion division, York Live. With the addition of this unique space on campus, YCP students are now able to directly experience every aspect of creating, recording, promoting, and performing music.
State-of-Art Resource for Students, the College and Community
Drawing on the experience and technical knowledge of design team members, including world-class acoustical consultants, we were able to transform two unused classrooms into a state-of-the-art, acoustically engineered studio for audio recording and production services. The studio provides cutting-edge technology to record, mix and master an artist’s work, while also functioning as an active learning classroom.
Since it’s opening, the studio has been opened up to the active music community in York, Pennsylvania, turning the space into an income generator for the college while creating a lively and inspiring environment for their musically talented students and faculty.
“Part of our job as a college is community engagement. It’s about getting folks in the region in here to do work, which also helps our students.”
Shawn Young, Ph.D., Music Industry Studies, Associate Professor of Music, as quoted in York Dispatch
Photo Credit: Nathan Cox Photography