A look at Penn’s new buildings for data science, energy research, and track and field.


At the September dedication of Amy Gutmann Hall, Harlan Stone C’80—the trustee and major donor who proposed naming the building for Penn’s longest serving president (who, fresh from her stint as US Ambassador to Germany, was present for the occasion)—riffed on the significance of the word hall (as in Houston, College, etc.) to his own Penn experience and the University as a whole, highlighting the importance of the different spaces, old and new, in which teaching, research, and the many aspects of student life take place.

Gutmann Hall (top) and the Vagelos Laboratory for Energy Science and Technology (above, with its striking sun shades) have reshaped Penn’s architectural profile to the east.

Gutmann Hall—not to be confused with Gutmann College House [“Gazetteer,” Sep|Oct 2022]—is one of three recent additions to the roster of Penn facilities pictured on these pages, along with the Vagelos Laboratory for Energy Science and Technology (VLEST) and the Jane and David Ott Center for Track and Field. Besides strengthening Penn’s capabilities in data science and energy research, Gutmann Hall and VLEST have reshaped Penn’s architectural profile to the east, while the Ott Center provides a state-of-the-art venue that will be used not only by Penn athletes but others across the city and region.

Located on the northeastern corner of 34th and Chestnut Streets, Gutmann Hall brings together the University’s efforts to harness artificial intelligence (AI) and data science to advance interdisciplinary teaching and research in a variety of fields, from engineering to the social sciences and medicine. The building represents a “new chapter in Penn’s leadership in the AI and data science revolution,” said Vijay Kumar, the Nemirovsky Family Dean of Penn Engineering. “Penn has been at the forefront of this revolution, and with this new building, the sky’s the limit—actually, six floors,” he joked.

Those six floors, totaling 116,000 square feet, incorporate classrooms, collaborative and informal meeting places, and research space serving schools across Penn. Gutmann Hall is also Philadelphia’s tallest mass-timber structure, a construction method that significantly reduced the facility’s carbon footprint.

A block south and east along the 3200 block of Walnut Street, the Vagelos lab slips elegantly into the streetscape between the Class of 1923 Ice Rink and David Rittenhouse Laboratory, offering a striking façade adorned with sail-like sun shades that also help control temperatures inside the building without obstructing views. The 112,500-square-foot, seven-story building—dedicated in December, with donors P. Roy Vagelos C’50 Hon’99 and Diana T. Vagelos in attendance—is made up mostly of laboratory space, consolidating work on clean and efficient energy conversion technologies and other efforts taking place in the School of Engineering and Applied Science and the School of Arts and Sciences. A courtyard and walkway provide easy access to Shoemaker Green and the Palestra area below.

The Ott Center, near the Schuylkill River and the South Street Bridge, will become the “home of Philadelphia track and field.”

Finally, sitting underneath the South Street Bridge, between the Hollenback Center and Rhodes Field along River Fields Drive, the Ott Center is a “first-class” facility that joins the iconic Franklin Field track and neighboring Irving “Moon” Mondschein Throwing Complex to give Penn track a “combination that is arguably one of the best in the country,” said Steve Dolan, Penn’s director of track and field.

The 73,000-square-foot Ott Center contains a banked 200-meter running track, two runways for the long jump/triple jump, two pole vault runways, an eight-lane infield for sprints, hurdles, and high jump, and a throwing area for shot put and weight throw. Dolan also pointed to the “personality of the building,” bolstered by a mural in the lobby, created by two track and field coaches, highlighting Penn’s connection to the city. Meanwhile, its large, clerestory windows give the Ott Center a lot of natural light and makes it an inviting space for local youth and high school meets, which have already been scheduled for the current winter season and will be a key component of a building that Dolan called the “home of Philadelphia track and field.”

The addition has been a long time coming. According to Dolan, coaches in the 1970s used to say that Penn was going to get an indoor track as part of their recruiting pitch. “They were right—just 50 years later,” Dolan said from the Ott Center’s stands, which seat more than 1,000, just after the first event of Penn’s debut meet there on December 6.

Three weeks earlier, hundreds of Penn track and field alumni attended the Ott Center’s unveiling and ribbon-cutting during Homecoming, including donors David Ott W’85 and Jane Ott W’87, Adria Sheth C’97 and Brian Sheth W’97, and Jay Alix W’77. —DZ and JP

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