Straddling a road that separates Penn State's original campus from its new West Campus, the IST building literally bridges the divide between the two campuses with an elevated pedestrian crossing. This crossing is itself an integral element to the new 200,000 gsf building, allowing students and the public to interact with the academic and technological components of the school as they walk over the crossing. Interaction between users of the building was an important consideration for the client in such a computer-intensive building. A two-story atrium with a café and small retail space encourages people to engage each other over the course of the day. The atrium is also configured to support a large video display wall and user-interactive demonstrations of the most current computer-based media technology.

Formally, the building is composed to represent the different programmatic elements of the school. Administrative spaces comprise the building's foundation while instructional spaces occupy the bridge level. These lower portions of the building are rendered in masonry with glazed curtainwall revealing interior views of the school from the bridge. On the third level of the building, the laboratories occupy a raised glass and metal panel "hull" which curves over the pedestrian crossing in a gesture that reconciles the main axis of the two different campuses.