Rodin College House – University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA

Project History

Rodin College House was built from 1971-1972 and is the third of three high rise upperclass dormitories to be built on UPenn’s campus. (see profile for Harrison College House). The Dean of the UPenn School of Fine Arts from 1951-1971, G. Holmes Perkins, assembled a team of architects to design the three “sisters” and included Louis I. Kahn who propelled Penn to the top of the list of American architecture schools in the 1960s.
Over the past forty years, this poured-in-place high rise concrete structure, like its sisters, was suffering from corroding rebar and spalling concrete.
Exposed rebar was coated with ECB corrosion inhibitor, which is an easy product to use on high-rise work since it is single component and water based, eliminating mixing on swing stages. Hand patching was done with Conpro Set, a single component, polymer-modified repair mortar. Conpro Set was the right choice because it is quick setting and can be shaved to replicate the 45 degree angles which dominate the repairs.
The repaired façade was then coated with Primex, a clear penetrating mineral silicate primer used as a pre-treatment for our M3P and M3P Stain products. The building was finished with M3P Stain, a semi-transparent mineral silicate coating, providing long term protection, color uniformity and enhanced aesthetics. Work was completed on the newly refurbished dorm and ready in time for the start of the 2016-2017 academic year.