Penn Announces Plans for David Rittenhouse Laboratory West at 40th and Walnut Streets

You heard that right—Penn is getting ready to build something yet again.

The construction of DRL West will cost the University a record-breaking $263 million. It is set to replace Cinemark, as the University will now implement its own theatre service elsewhere to increase revenues.

Hundreds of budding student mathematicians and physicists protested the school’s decision, demanding that the original DRL be renovated.

“I don’t think the administration really cares about that building. To be honest, neither do I, now that I think about it,” said Tyler Green (C’ 18), a Math major, who spends around 80% of his time in the building.

DRL West will feature twelve lecture halls with leather chairs that are even noisier than their predecessors. The architects wanted the building to stay true to its roots.

When we asked the President about her decision, she didn't sugarcoat anything.

“It’s easier for us to spend hundreds of millions on new property, instead of fixing old problems. Would it really be the Penn way if we didn’t buy our solutions?” she asked.

The Board of Trustees told one of our reporters that tuition was set to increase 20%, in order to cover the exorbitant costs. They declined to comment further on the matter.

Only time will tell if this was the right decision. It probably isn’t, though.