Bossone Research Enterprise Center, Drexel University

The program combines 80,000 square feet of new construction with 70,000 square feet of renovated space within the adjacent Commonwealth Hall, creating an integrated facility for multidisciplinary research. The building fosters synergy among researchers, the student body, and the surrounding scientific and corporate communities.

Upon entry, visitors are greeted by a lively reception area and student café. Other facilities at ground level include a 280-seat lecture hall, exhibition lab, and electron microscope suite. Two exterior stairs connect the lecture hall to adjacent volumes, providing public access to a raised garden terrace and an upper-level building entry. These features further affirm the center’s identity as both a leading research incubator and a porous presence inviting circulation into, through, and around its diverse spaces.

At the gateway to the Drexel campus, a bold and transparent seven-story public atrium serves as the main entry off Market Street, reinforcing the definition of the street while beckoning the public within.

As part of the creative renovation and reuse of the flanking campus infrastructure—Commonwealth Hall on one side and historic Peck Alumni Center on the other—the building is carefully detailed with materials that emphasize the historic qualities of the masonry buildings that define the neighboring campus.