Information Sciences and Technology Building

Westgate Building
North side view of the Westgate building
General information
Status	Completed
Location	University Park, Pennsylvania
Current tenants	Penn State College of Information Sciences and Technology
Opened	2004
Cost	$58.8 million
Technical details
Floor area	199,000 square feet (18,500 m2)
Design and construction
Architecture firm	Rafael Viñoly Architects, New York City, and Perfido Weiskopf Architects, Pittsburgh
Main contractor	Turner Construction Company

The Westgate Building, formerly known as the Information Sciences and Technology Building (commonly known as the IST Building) is a classroom building at Pennsylvania State University. Construction was completed in January 2004. With at least 13 doors, and no main entrance, it has only recently been assigned a street address, 288 N. Burrowes Rd., University Park, PA 16802.

This building was designed by the acclaimed architect Rafael Vinoly. According to the Penn State IST website, the design of the building "began as an inkpen sketch on a paper dinner napkin." He characterizes the building as "a labor of love . . . my own personal obsession for years", stating that, in the beginning, it seemed "crazy and extreme" to construct an S-shaped building over North Atherton Street. According to the Penn State IST Website, "His firm, Rafael Vinoly Architects, New York, partnered with Perfido Weiskopf Architects, Pittsburgh, for the design inspired by the Ponte Vecchio in Florence." Despite its name, this building currently is the home of both the Pennsylvania State University Computer Science and Engineering Department, in addition to the College of IST.

In order to "better represent the building’s many uses", the building was renamed the Westgate Building.^[1]

• Penn State Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and Engineering Department
• Penn State College of Information Sciences and Technology

Notes

40°47′37″N 77°52′06″W / 40.79370°N 77.86836°W / 40.79370; -77.86836