Maxine Frank Singer Hall

• Project highlights: Maxine Frank Singer Hall

• Architecture firm:  Ballinger
• Owner:  Swarthmore College
• Location:  Swarthmore, Penn.
• Category:  General
• Project site: Previously developed
• Building program type(s):  Education - college/university (campus-level)

The new home for Swarthmore College’s biology, engineering, and psychology departments, the 160,000-square-foot Maxine Frank Singer Hall advances the suburban Philadelphia college’s interdisciplinary values. Through its teaching, research, and common spaces, this new addition to campus respects its arboretum context but adds a contemporary sense of place borne of environmental stewardship.

Before the hall was completed, the three departments it now houses were located in aging, siloed facilities rife with obsolete systems and constrained configurations. The highly interdisciplinary hall, named for the renowned alumna and molecular biologist, is an L-shaped wing that defines the edges of Nason Garden, one of the college’s arboretum spaces. The design team grouped the faculty offices to create an independent pavilion within the garden and form an internal sky-lit green-wall commons that welcomes the entire college community.

Singer Hall’s lab wing is at scale with the surrounding campus buildings and promotes varying internal circulation widths, creating a dynamic flow of changing vistas. The team carefully included interdisciplinary space at the building’s folds to promote collaboration. Additionally, a primary stair between the lab wing and garden pavilion complements the commons and unifies the building.

Iconic departmental spaces at each orientation accompany the main entrances, which are complemented by sustainable landscapes that create unique building portals that promote each department’s identity. For instance, the biology department draws on the college’s renowned arboretum and adjacent Crum Woods. On the ground floor’s north end, an introductory teaching lab for first-year students is strategically located to provide ample views of the campus quad, Nason Garden, and the woods to the west. The project’s east facade is faceted and stepped to respect the sensitive scale of an adjacent Quaker meeting house to the east that contains a highly respected preschool. The psychology department’s Child Development Lab is a transparent space that establishes a direct connection between Singer Hall and the meeting house and includes shared vehicular drop-off and parking.

Singer Hall, informed by the college’s 2011 master plan, is the first Swarthmore building to align with the college’s ambitious sustainability framework that is focused on rigorous carbon and energy reduction, energy and stormwater analysis, and sustainable building guidelines. To achieve an environment reflective of the college’s desires, the team developed an intensive, consensus-based workshop process that engaged the entire college community and ensured collaboration, transparency, and inclusivity.

In just a few years, Singer Hall has already contributed significantly to life on Swarthmore’s campus. A multistory sculpture created by community members now stands proudly in the commons, and a fall 2023 space utilization study found that its classrooms are among the most heavily used. By focusing on cross-curricular exploration and melding the built and natural environments, Singer Hall has set the stage for exceptional undergraduate education.