Temple University College of Public Health

PZS Architects contributed to the adaptive reuse of Temple University’s former Samuel Paley Library in Philadelphia—a windowless, three-story 1960s brutalist building—into a light-filled home for the College of Public Health. The goal was to convert one of campus’s most introverted buildings into one of its most expressive, defining a future quadrangle, reinforcing the Bell Tower as a visual anchor, and embracing Polett Walk with transparent edges.

Retaining as much existing structure as possible to limit environmental impact, the design wraps new additions on the north and east, reclads the south and west, and adds two stories. Selective removal of structure and floor plates creates a dramatic light-filled circulation ribbon running north to south through the center of the building; monumental stairs turn t

Program elements include a 6,000-square-foot multhat ribbon into the architectural heart of the project. The design consolidates College of Public Health programs previously scattered across thirteen buildings and two campuses under one roof for the first time.purpose 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—about a 20% energy reduction, roughly 3.8 million kilograms of avoided embodied carbon, and an estimated $10 million in construction savings from structural retention. Described as Temple’s first WELL-certified building, it is higher-education architecture in Philadelphia that turns an introverted library into an academic hub.