Temple University College of Public Health

An adaptive reuse project transformed Temple University’s windowless, three-story, 1960s brutalist Samuel Paley Library into a light-filled, biophilic home for the College of Public Health (CPH). The goal was to convert one of campus’s most introverted buildings into one of its most expressive.

The design team saw an opportunity for engaged placemaking on a site that had long turned its back on campus. By defining a future quadrangle, reinforcing the Bell Tower as a visual anchor, and embracing Polett Walk with transparent edges, the project repurposes a closed structure into an active catalyst of campus life. This was not simply a renovation, but a reimagining of how the building serves its campus community.

After deciding to retain as much of the existing structure as possible to minimize the project’s environmental impact; the design team wrapped the North and East elevations with new additions, reclad the South and West elevations, and added two stories. Through selective removal of structure and floor plates a newly created dramatic light-filled circulation ribbon weaves its way from North to South through the center of the building. A series of monumental stairs turn this circulation ribbon into the architectural heart of the project.

The design consolidates CPH’s programs, previously scattered across thirteen buildings and two campuses, under one roof for the first time. Program elements include a 6,000-square-foot multipurpose lobby, a wellness-focused mezzanine with a Zen Den and counseling suites, a 20,000-plus-square-foot immersive simulation center recreating clinical, home-based, and community-health environments, a 2,000-square-foot nutrition lab, team-based-learning classrooms, research centers, and a relocated 32,000-square-foot campus bookstore.

Achieving LEED and WELL Gold, the project pairs environmental and fiscal performance: a 20% energy reduction, roughly 3.8 million kilograms of avoided embodied carbon, and an estimated $10 million in construction savings from structural retention. The result: Temple’s first WELL-certified building — proof that strategic, targeted intervention can turn an introverted structure into a vibrant, forward-looking academic hub.

Read more about this project here.