University of Pennsylvania Wharton Academic Research Building & Substation II

Hunter Roberts successfully constructed a new four floor, 80,450 SF cutting-edge research and education center for the Wharton School of Business, and a new above ground electrical substation. This new building links to the south side of Steinberg Hall-Dietrich Hall and brings Wharton’s innovative teaching and research activities in data and analytics under one roof. The program includes an atrium with living wall, Woodland Overlook, a patio, 2 active-learning classrooms, 4 seminar rooms, 10 group study rooms, 4 phone booths, research centers, shared conference rooms, and sustainable design features such as a green roof.

On the ground level, a new enclosed loading dock and electrical substation replaced the existing surface loading dock and substation that was located in an underground concrete vault, adjacent to SEPTA’s underground trolley tunnel and Spruce Street station. The new Substation II supports 29 campus buildings. Woodland Walk was restored from 36th to 37th Streets as part of this project.

A complete 3-D BIM REVIT model was prepared and utilized on the project for trade coordination and clash detection. LEED Gold Certified.