Penn is moving ahead with plans to partially demolish David Rittenhouse Laboratory and replace it with a new Physical Sciences Building.

The $520 million renovation is expected to begin in 2028 and wrap up in 2031. Penn first announced its decision to gut DRL — which was originally built in 1954 — two years ago during a University Board of Trustees meeting.

School of Arts and Sciences Dean Mark Trodden described the development as an “interdisciplinary scientific community” in a statement to The Daily Pennsylvanian. The building will house Penn’s Departments of Physics and Astronomy, Mathematics, and Earth and Environmental Science.

The project will add 265,000 square feet of teaching and research space, while renovating 85,000 square feet of the existing building. Much of the six-story building will be demolished.

The complex is expected to include nearly 40 classrooms and lecture halls, a teaching observatory, a makerspace, hands-on teaching laboratories, and more than 30 study spaces.

The Department of Earth and Environmental Science will relocate from the 65,000-square-foot Hayden Hall to the new building. Penn has not yet determined which program will occupy Hayden Hall following the move.

“As a member of the Physics and Astronomy department, DRL is my home, and while I appreciate its distinguished history at Penn, science has changed and our facilities need to keep up,” Trodden wrote. 

University Architect Mark Kocent told the DP that the demolition was necessary “in order to build more density on the site.”

“As you enter the building, there’s a large communal space and all of the users of the building will be able to mix and mingle,” Kocent said.

The Physical Sciences Building is being designed by Los Angeles-based CO Architects and Philadelphia-based EwingCole. According to CO Architects’ project portfolio, “the building massing faces and engages with Shoemaker Green, a large open space on the eastern edge of campus.”

Plans also include a new science library, offices, theoretical research centers, and an open-concept lobby.

The Physical Sciences Building is not Penn’s only major upcoming construction project. Penn also began a multi-phase renovation of 1920 Commons over the summer that is expected to conclude by January 2029. The updated building will feature over 200 more seats, an expanded Gourmet Grocer location, a new coffee shop, group study pods, elevators, and a locker-based food pick-up system.

Platt Student Performing Arts Center, a brand-new space, is also expected to open in January 2027. Located near Hill College House and Lauder College House, the center was initially announced in 2021 and will serve as a space for Penn’s student performing arts groups. 

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