Willman Business Center - York College of Pennsylvania

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 46,000SF, five-story addition and renovations to Willman Business Center that houses all business administration faculty in one building and facilitate active, hands-on learning experiences and spontaneous collaboration. The updates tripled the size of the building and provides flexible teaching space within a very corporate atmosphere.

Award: American School & University 2014 Architectural Portfolio Outstanding Design

Photo Credit: Nathan Cox Photography

Project Highlights

Client:
York College of Pennsylvania

Location:
York, PA

Services:
Architecture

Interior Design

Construction Administration

Type:
Higher Education

Renovations

Additions

Willman Business Center – York College of Pennsylvania

Connection to the Campus

The architects and campus leaders considered other potential locations but ultimately chose to expand the existing business administration center based on its prominent position on 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.

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.

College campus with brick building and students walking and sitting outside

Due to the existing building’s location on the campus quad, the Willman Business Center expansion was situated so that all angles of approach are welcoming and connected to the center of campus.