Drexel University Master Plan
Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA
Redefining city streets as vital campus spaces: Drexel grows to embrace its city and engage its neighborhood
Drexel University, known for its co-op based education model, is one of the nation’s largest private universities, serving more than 22,000 students from its main campus in the University City neighborhood of Philadelphia. The Goody Clancy team shaped a new campus master plan that integrates academic space and private sector development, softening boundaries between campus and community and expanding co-op opportunities in the heart of the campus. The plan looks outward, shaping a vibrant urban environment that is shared by the Drexel community and its University City neighbors.
The Drexel plan:
- Has attracted development partners to key sites, where new shops, restaurants, and housing are enlivening area streets
- Establishes the campus as a model “eco-district” that makes more efficient use of energy and water
- Provides a framework for growth of Drexel’s expanding research, STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics), and design programs within the campus’s dense urban neighborhood
- Adds needed informal learning spaces to undistinguished mid-century buildings through the addition of glassy “terraces” that bring the energy and activity of the university to the street
