Temple Trades Library Space For $120M Public Health College Offering Simulated Reality

Temple University is wrapping up a $120M adaptive reuse project, making a new public health college out of a former library space on its main campus.

The college, known as Paley Hall, will open within a year, according to a press release. 

The project will add an additional 200K SF to two floors for a total 325K SF redevelopment of the former Samuel L. Paley Library at 1210 Polett Walk. The school began giving tours of the nearly-completed space this past month, according to a spokesperson for Temple University.

The Temple University College of Public Health will offer classroom and lecture space, an outpatient facility, an ambulance bay and a fully-equipped teaching kitchen for nutrition and other public health programs. The college will also house simulated cafes, parks and row homes allowing students pursuing disciplines such as physical and occupational therapy to experience working with clients and patients in varied environments.

Temple's newest offering brings together studies that have been spread across 10 buildings, including nursing, social work, epidemiology and kinesiology, and replaces the former brutalist-style library.

The new college is set to open by summer 2025. Next to the Temple Bell Tower, the new college will be part of a yearslong effort to unite the entire campus community with more pedestrian walkways and a future central quadrangle, according to the announcement.

“Having this building at the heart of Temple’s campus is intentional,” Temple Provost Gregory Mandel said in May. “The College of Public Health can serve as both the literal and figurative center of our campus community.”  

PZS is the architect. Rycon Construction is managing the project, and The S/L/A/M Collaborative is the interior and design architect on the project.