A key feature of the project is the treatment of the new addition, which is designed as a thin rectangular bar that provides a more prominent facade to the building and better defines the edge of the "grove," which is bordered on three sides by prominent campus structures. The entrance to the building has been situated in a two story slot between the existing building the addition which becomes the lobby. A bridge through the lobby connects the buildings at the second floor.

The design also responds to the University's planned growth pattern, which anticipates the removal of Oakland Avenue through the campus and an extension of the "grove" to the west. At that time, a second entrance can be added on the west side of Uhler Hall to address pedestrian access from either side of the building.

Perfido Weiskopf Architects developed the space program for the Psychology Department, which revealed a need for many smaller research rooms, faculty offices and graduate student offices in addition to some larger seminar rooms, classrooms and computer labs. The width of the existing building (designed as a school building) was not conducive to the smaller rooms and thus a double corridor was developed on the ground level and the second floor to serve those needs. The first floor, which will have most of the student traffic, has retained a traditional double-loaded corridor but in a way that treats it as an interior "street" using borrowed natural light from the adjacent rooms.