Reconstructing Institutional Publics: Boyer School of Music

Comprehensive Design Studio

Temple University Tyler School of Art and Architecture

Professor Mauricio Better

2023

Urban universities have evolved from small, community-based  insitutions to expansive machines of industrial education and commercial extraction. This transition has seen the rejection of vernacular aesthetics in favor of modern, placeless architecture - replacing cities of people with cities of institutions. This project uses the proposed Boyer School of Music as an impetus for the reconstruction of this historic destruction of instiutional ‘publics.’ No longer shall the public university sit within fortifications of glass, concrete, and steel - removed from the very public it was intended to serve. Rather, the proposal for Temple University will come to resemble the North Philadelphia community itself, acknowledging place and welcoming the public. For Temple, this initiative takes the form of a continuation of Liacouras walk, the dissolution of the northern campus boundary, and the accessibility of Boyer’s community focused programming and mission.