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SOM Partner Michael Duncan will participate in the symposium, which brings together key leaders, designers, and collaborators to reflect on the ideas and decisions that shaped the campus and continue to guide its future.
SOM has been an active partner with both UC Berkeley and UC Merced campuses for decades, with more recent collaborations including UC Berkeley’s Grimes Engineering Center and UC Merced’s 2020 Campus Expansion. Developed to serve an underserved, predominately Hispanic/Latino population of California’s Central Valley, UC Merced has been recognized as the most sustainable campus in the country, the first U.S. research university to achieve net-zero carbon, energy, and waste. 
The exhibition is open now until February 21, 2026, in Bauer Wurster Hall Gallery, and the symposium takes place on January 29.

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“The building acts as a bridge between Klein College and CPCA, tying together these two academic communities and displaying the creativity of students through its great sheets of glass,” said Partner Colin Koop. “It activates the public realm—connecting the surrounding community to the Temple University campus and creating an artistic anchor to Broad Street.” Large glass apertures along the facade reveal the activity within, exhibiting a range of creative spaces and learning environments. Studios, post-production spaces, and screening rooms—modeled after professional facilities and designed to adapt to new media technology—sit within these apertures. Classrooms and faculty offices lie further inside, and a series of performance and entertainment venues including a 375-seat proscenium, a 180-seat cinema, 140-seat black box theater, and a 63-seat screening room provide space for students to showcase their work. To highlight these specialty performance and studio spaces and enhance wayfinding, SOM’s Graphics + Brand Studio developed a striking visual approach—using a graduated palette from red to blue to reflect both distinction and unity between the two schools. Visible through the building’s apertures and punctuated by large-scale signage, the colored volumes help to communicate the school’s activities to the public.  “In the context of an evolving media industry, flexibility became an essential component of our holistic design strategy,” said Partner Laura Ettelman. “From the lobbies through each individual studio, theater, and classroom, every space is modular, multifunctional, and adaptable to emerging technologies to support future generations of students.”
A series of sustainability strategies further position the building toward the future. The interiors prioritize sustainable and healthy materials, warm finishes, communal spaces, and daylighting to benefit health and wellbeing for students and faculty. A large green roof, native plantings, bird-friendly glass, and an overall window-to-wall ratio of 30 percent contribute to the project’s LEED Silver target.

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