Fifteen years ago, Saint Joseph’s University acquired the adjacent campus of a K-12 school with the goal of providing much-needed development and expansion opportunities. Working with Sasaki, the University developed a long-term plan to combine the two campuses into one cohesive site. Acting as Executive Architect, VMA developed a cohesive conceptual approach to realizing “Wave One” of the plan’s implementation, comprising several distinct projects selected by the University.

VMA worked with the University user groups and administration to program seven new buildings and extensive campus landscape improvements. The team selected and refined sites suggested by the comprehensive  plan. Cost estimates and fundraising support drawings were provided. Although each building and its attendant landscape are being treated as individual pieces, functioning within a single framework, VMA has executed a plan that will provide a unified and holistic vision for the entire campus. It incorporates the ongoing construction of a new pedestrian tunnel, crucial to unifying the two campuses, and proposes better use of an existing bridge to minimize the effect of a major, four-lane road that separates the properties. Thoughtfully-imagined new quads and walkways will create centers for student life. And, the branding of the University along its edges, with consistent trees, walls, fencing, and planting, will give the University a much more impressive sense of arrival, entry, and unified identity.

The university is currently advancing VMA’s conceptual designs for an expansion of their athletics facilities and for a new home for the Kinney Center for Autism.