Swarthmore College Dining Center

An ambitious reimagining of the College's dining experience, the Dining Center is at the heart of Swarthmore College’s campus and a key component of the College's To Zero By Thirty-Five initiative.

The Dining Center, which opened in fall 2022, is the first phase of the Dining and Community Commons, with a 40,000-square-foot dining addition and the 33,000 square-foot transformation of the existing Sharples building into Sharples Commons together offering students, faculty, and staff the opportunity for social and dining experiences that are central to Swarthmore’s mission to educate the whole person. 

A hybrid structure consists of sustainably sourced mass timber and steel. Additional measures including a central geothermal plant, photo-voltaic array, a fully electric kitchen, and locally sourced stone also contribute to ambitious, holistic sustainability goals. Post-occupancy monitoring and measurement will track and validate modeled performance.