New Ursinus College Building Recognized with 2021 Montgomery Award

Schellhase Commons.Image via Ursinus College

Ursinus College has been honored with the 2021 Montgomery Award which recognizes the best in planning and design, environmental sustainability, and advocacy in Montgomery County, for the Schellhase Commons, an exceptional adaptive reuse project in Collegeville Borough.

This prestigious honor for planning and design is awarded by the Montgomery County Planning Commission.

“The college’s inspiration for this project was to preserve the historic dormitory, Keigwin Hall, which I lived in during my senior year,” says Urinsus College President Jill Leauber Marsteller, ’78, the college’s 18th president and the first woman to lead Collegeville’s 152-year-old institution. “It’s to provide a more vibrant setting for student activities and welcome prospective and current students and has a door that opens to the community.

The Schellhase Commons was completed in 2020.

It incorporates Keigwin Hall at Ursinus College on Main Street and includes the Café 2020 coffee shop and a college bookstore. The project preserved a beloved building on the campus while also creating a modern and attractive student center.

Ursinus also received a Montgomery Award in 2019 for the Innovation and Discovery Center, which opened in 2018 and has been a hub of interdisciplinary research ever since.