Accolade on Chestnut

University of Pennsylvania Student Housing

The Sansom Place East redevelopment repurposed a 1970s modernist structure to provide upgraded on-campus housing for nearly 600 University of Pennsylvania graduate students.

With new plantings, furnishings, materials, and updated lighting, Bohler’s planning, landscape architecture, and design team collaborated with UPenn and Greystar to identify opportunities to refresh and enhance the existing outside plaza. The plaza upgrades aimed to revitalize the existing exterior and building façade, as well as to provide a welcoming pedestrian connection and a seamless flow from the city streetscape to the building tower entry to the internal amenity spaces.

Redesigned exterior plaza with new plantings, furnishings, materials, and lighting.

Creating Sense of Place

The previous space was occupied mostly of concrete with loose tables and chairs. The proposed design has transformed what was once more of a passive plaza into a space that provides a sense of arrival and place. The urban plaza is activated by adaptable programming within outdoor rooms at several levels of the plaza, as well as improvements to the plaza’s overall aesthetic, including the building façade, hardscape, and enhanced landscaping at the pedestrian level. Table and chair seating, along with grilling stations, an overhead structure, planters, benches, and lounge seating areas are among the amenities. The upgrades also include landscape and accent lighting, and programmable zones, with updated aesthetics to the current site lighting to promote safety at the plaza and continuity throughout the existing UPenn campus.

Upgrades to the plaza’s overall aesthetic creates a seamless flow from streetscape to building entry.

The project preserved the current towers’ outer facades, replaced windows, and completely restored the interiors to improve the graduate student experience. Sansom Place East was redeveloped into Accolade on Chestnut in the summer of 2023. Greystar Real Estate Partners now manages the property, and the studio, one-bedroom, and two-bedroom graduate student apartments are all fully leased.

In 2024, the project was awarded the prestigious “Best On-Campus Renovation of Existing University Housing” at the Student Housing Business 14th Annual Innovator Awards.

Plaza with pergola and tables, vegetation, and seating areas.

Plaza and deck spaces with lounge and table seating and firepits for gathering. Rendering by BartonPartners.