Archinect - News

Cooper Robertson unveils campus master plan for the University of Maryland

2024-01-10T13:54:00-05:00

Details of a new comprehensive master plan by Cooper Robertson for the University of Maryland’s flagship campus in College Park were revealed Tuesday by the firm following its initial announcement in March of last year.

By prioritizing strategies for “holistic growth,” the university says it will be able to meet its slate of strategic development goals that include increasing institutional resilience, achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2025, improving transit options and pedestrian access on campus, making facilities improvements, enhancing connectivity between the campus and D.C. metro region, and preparing for a more diverse future.

Rendering courtesy Cooper Robertson

“This plan builds on the University of Maryland’s role as an ambitious, forward-looking, and value-driven academic institution,” Cooper Robertson partner and UMD alum Mike Aziz said. “By embracing its legacy of distinction in a modern and strategic program, the university is setting a highly sustainable and lasti...

Renzo Piano Building Workshop puts the finishing touches on 600 W. 125th residential tower for Columbia University

2023-12-27T18:36:00-05:00

Renzo Piano Building Workshop (RPBW) is progressing towards the completion of its new 600 W. 125th Street off-campus Harlem housing project for Columbia University in collaboration with CetraRuddy.

Once complete, the 34-story dorm is set to host 142 apartments for graduate students and faculty with another 5,000-square-foot McDonald’s retail location included at the ground level. Thornton Tomasetti is in charge of delivering the building’s facade system. The construction has been engineered to meet LEED v4.0 Gold certification standards and culminates in a total of 177,000 square-feet, including its terraced podium.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Renzo Piano Building Workshop (@rpbw_architects)

The project is being realized just a few blocks south of the southern edge of Manhattanville, Columbia’s sometimes fraught 17-acre multiphase development that has to date included three other RPBW buildings (the Jerome L. Greene Science Center, Lenfest Center f...

HGA leverages Maine's 'working forest' identity for a pair of mass timber structures at Bowdoin College

2023-12-13T14:54:00-05:00

A new mass timber academic design for Bowdoin College from HGA has been unveiled for the first time following the project’s completion earlier this year in Brunswick, Maine.

The Barry Mills Hall and the John and Lile Gibbons Center for Arctic Studies project called for the construction of two opposing asymmetrical structures totaling 46,000 square feet to be used as educational and art exhibition spaces for students on the 207-acre campus.

“This project was an opportunity for Bowdoin to further demonstrate their commitment to sustainability, not only through high-performance buildings but also by investing in generous, flexible learning, teaching, and research spaces,” Rebecca Celis, principal and arts, community and education sector leader at HGA, says of the design. “These buildings will grow Bowdoin’s education and research capabilities while embracing the college’s environmental ethos.”

The campus red Mills Hall design is set to host the college’s C...

Diamond Schmitt/LemayMichaud to design 'generational' campus expansion at McGill University

2023-11-30T13:25:00-05:00

Diamond Schmitt Architects has designed a new campus expansion plan for McGill University in unison with LemayMichaud that will help advance the study of earth systems and environmental health while restoring several historic buildings and the university’s connection to Mount Royal Park.

One of Canada’s premiere research institutions is about to undergo a transformation of “generational importance,” according to the firms. Their New Vic plan calls for the reuse of three extant Scottish baronial structures at the Royal Victoria Hospital complex and construction of a new 350,000-square-foot facility for teaching and research.

A forecourt to Frederick Law Olmsted's 1893 park design will also be re-established through the design. Costs for the project are stated at $870 million CAD ($640 million USD).

Rendering by Diamond Schmitt

“We are inspired with urgency to design a center devoted to the most critical issue of our time: healing the planet,” Donald Schmitt, Principal at the new join...

Harvard's new Enterprise Research Campus breaks ground in Boston

2023-11-14T18:59:00-05:00

A master plan project at Harvard University from Studio Gang, Henning Larsen, SCAPE, and Utile has begun construction in the Boston neighborhood of Allston.

The 36-acre Enterprise Research Campus (or ERC) will coalesce an area across the Charles River from the Ivy League campus into a new multi-use innovation district with designs from MVRDV, Moody Nolan, and Marlon Blackwell, in addition to the university's first above-ground mass timber structures from Studio Gang.

Once complete, its initial two phases will entail 14 acres of redeveloped land reserved for offices, labs, conference center, hotel, residential component, and open green space.

Image courtesy SCAPE

The effort was inaugurated in 2018 in the interest of creating a "gateway to a collaborative community," which is Boston's well-known consortium of knowledge industries.

Studio Gang founding principal and partner, Jeanne Gang, said her team’s plan has "provided a framework for a vibrant and inclusive public realm that bring...

A ‘textural and reflective building skin’ wraps the University of Washington’s new Health Sciences Education Building

2023-10-12T14:08:00-04:00

A team comprising The Miller Hull Partnership, The S/L/A/M Collaborative, and Lease Crutcher Lewis has completed the new Health Sciences Education Building at the University of Washington in Seattle. Designed using a ‘culture of care’ philosophy, the scheme seeks to provide a “shared physical space that sparks innovation and creativity among students.”

Image credit: Moris Moreno

Marking a new entrance to the university’s South Campus, the Health Sciences Education Building is the first project to be delivered as part of a wider campus master plan. While the existing campus prioritizes an indoor circulation system between buildings, the new scheme seeks to pull people outdoors and introduce a new network of accessible pathways, murals, and sculptural public art, as well as outdoor seating areas.

Image credit: Moris Moreno

The building is constructed of a hybrid system using steel, concrete, and cross-laminated timber. Inside, the incl...

New York’s School Construction Authority is preparing for a school building boom

2023-08-25T17:41:00-04:00

The body in charge of K-12 planning and construction in New York City was recently profiled by the AIA New York as it prepares for a surge in student enrollment that’s expected over the next decade.

The New York School Construction Authority (or SCA) is a specialty city agency that employs 1,100 people and is tasked with the delivery and maintenance of school buildings in the New York City Public Schools arsenal, a charge which makes it directly responsible for the well-being, safety, and learning environments of more than 1.1 million students.

With a staff that currently includes 170 architects, Stephen Zacks for the AIANY writes the SCA has a unique talent when it comes to the delivery of high-quality structures within challenging construction schedules and have become national examples of the implementation of efficient project management at...

Studio Gang to design new sustainability commons at Stanford

2023-06-06T16:50:00-04:00

A new project led by Studio Gang will deliver Stanford University a home for the recently-established Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability, called Stanford Sustainability Commons, at a site located on the western half of the school’s Palo Alto, California campus.

New York-based practices SCAPE and atelier ten will join the firm for the design of the Commons, which aims to help consolidate a group of interrelated academic disciplines in the hopes of enabling a “thriving habitat supporting the region’s larger network of living things.”

Jeanne Gang says: “The climate crisis is the most urgent challenge facing our world today. We are going to be working with Stanford to design a home for the Doerr School of Sustainability that can support the cross-disciplinary collaboration needed for generating climate solutions in all industries. At the same time, we are excited to model ways for the built environment to address this challenge head-on.”

An aerial view of campus courtesy of Flickr ...

Deborah Berke Partners designs a new all-electric, hybrid steel and cross-laminated timber residential hall for Brown University

2023-02-20T15:18:00-05:00

In preparation for the Fall 2023 academic term, Brown University shares details of its new Deborah Berke Partners-designed Brook Street Residence Halls.

Located at the southeastern edge of the University’s 143-acre historic urban campus, the 125,00-square-foot development has room for 353 beds interwoven with green spaces that enhances the campus’ connection to nearby existing structures and Providence’s Fox Point neighborhood while providing capabilities for year-round stormwater retention.

Image courtesy of Deborah Berke Partners.

With its brick and terracotta material palette, the new halls are beholden to the older architecture of the campus and of the Federal style-rich city in passing. The split-volume residences come beset with strategic social spaces and a healthy influx of strategic natural light corridors, kitchenettes, and study nooks, especially when compared to other recent student housing proposals across the country of considerable size. This is both an all-electric an...

Howard University begins Myrtilla Miner Building restoration, initiating $785 million campus master plan

2023-02-10T14:35:00-05:00

To kick off February, Howard University President Wayne A.I. Frederick announced at a groundbreaking ceremony the start of extensive renovations to the school’s historic, 109-year-old Myrtilla Miner Building. This restoration marks the start of Howard University’s $785 million Central Campus Master Plan, the largest campus development project in the school’s history.

As noted by Howard University, preservation and sustainability are at the core of the institution’s real estate development initiatives. When renovations are complete, the Miner Building will serve as a shared space for the university's School of Education and Middle School of Mathematics and Science.

Work will be conducted mainly on the building’s interior. Significant architectural features, such as the building’s two-story arched windows, limestone baseboards in corridors, and two grand staircases that rise from the ground floor to the second floor, are being preserved.

Previously on Archinect: Howard University an...

Steven Holl completes Rubenstein Commons at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, NJ

2022-11-30T13:16:00-05:00

Steven Holl Architects has reached another milestone following the completion of the new Rubenstein Commons at the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) in Princeton, New Jersey, in late October.

The new 17,175-square-foot building provides the 92-year-old IAS with much-needed modern facilities while serving as a social condenser for researchers and the broader academic community.

Photo: Paul Warchol, image courtesy of Steven Holl Architects.

Its design is inspired by the impetus for scholarly collaboration and therefore features a series of intertwining spaces set within an undulating, low-rise volume that connects to the existing Fuld Hall building and a trio of adjacent water features located to the north, west, and south on the IAS’s 589-acre campus.

Photo: Paul Warchol, image courtesy of Steven Holl Architects.

“By having the ability to come together, the grea...

Maya Lin's second academic building will deliver a new performing arts studio to Bard College

2022-10-26T14:19:00-04:00

New York’s Bard College has announced a new commission from architect Maya Lin that will deliver a performing arts studio building to its 540-acre Annandale-on-Hudson campus.

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial designer will team with Bialosky and acoustic specialists Charcoalblue to deliver a 25,000-square-foot space just west of the school’s Frank Gehry-designed Richard B. Fisher Center.

According to Bard, the sloping green-roofed building will contain five separate “state-of-the-art” studios connected by a series of “gathering hubs” that will host the school’s Fisher Center LAB residency program while doubling as a font for creative exploration for Bard students and faculty.

Lin is in the midst of a banner year following two high-profile commissions for the new Museum of Chinese in America in Manhattan and the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago. The school notes this will...

SOM completes new Wellesley College Science Complex, an 'interplay between old and new'

2022-10-13T14:48:00-04:00

SOM just completed a major design project for the Wellesley College Science Complex after a five-year construction period.

The redesigned 97,000-square-foot structure is comprised of mass timber with recycled zinc elements and involved the consolidation of several smaller academic buildings that were originally constructed on the Science Hill portion of the campus between the 1920s and late1970s.

Dave Burk © SOM

“We reimagined the science center as a village for teaching, learning, and research,” SOM Design Partner Colin Koop said in a press release. “The project is a careful mix of removal, renovation, and addition that will give students and faculty a more inviting and engaging experience.”

Dave Burk © SOM

For the renovation portion of the project, SOM focused on the L-wing, a Perry, Dean, Stahl, and Rogers-designed addition to the older Neo-Gothic Sage Hall that was first enacted in 1977 and provided an ideal space for transformation.

Dave Burk © SOM

SOM’s team converted the structu...

LEVER Architecture to design new home for Portland State University's School of Art + Design

2022-04-13T14:15:00-04:00

Portland, Oregon-based design firm LEVER Architecture has been selected to design a new space for Portland State University’s School of Art + Design. LEVER was selected from a group of 11 firms competing for the project.

The multiple-award-winning firm, which was recently named the Jury’s Choice winner in the 2022 Wood Design Awards for their work on the Adidas North American Headquarters, has designed an array of innovative projects that also include Meyer Memorial Trust, the Artists Repertory Theater renovation, and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. LEVER is known for its use of mass timber as a sustainable building material, its research focus, and its client-centered design approach.

“Portland State is thrilled to be working with LEVER on this important new building for our campus,” said Portland State University President Stephen Percy. “The new home for the School of Art + Design will serve as a beacon for the important role our creative community plays in the Po...

Howard University announces historic $785 million investment to revitalize campus

2022-03-24T13:01:00-04:00

Howard University has announced a historic investment to build upon and revitalize its campus master plan. The University will invest $785 million to build three new state-of-the-art multidisciplinary academic buildings and renovate several existing structures. This is the largest construction real estate initiative in the school’s history.

The new academic centers include the Health Sciences Complex, which will house the College of Medicine, College of Dentistry, College of Pharmacy, and the College of Nursing and Allied Health Sciences; the Center for Arts and Communications, which will house the Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts and the Cathy Hughes School of Communications; and the STEM Center, which will house various STEM programs and disciplines including physics, chemistry, biology, engineering, mathematics, and associated labs.

Previously, "Howard University's Bradford Grant named Instagram artist-in-residence at National Portrait Gallery"

“This is a watershed momen...

DS+R’s Columbia Business School building opens in Manhattan

2022-02-26T09:00:00-05:00

The important next step in Columbia University’s aggressive campus expansion project has been inaugurated this week with the opening of its new Columbia Business School, designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro in collaboration with FXCollaborative, in northern Manhattan.

The school’s fourth incursion into the blocks north of 125th Street marks the end of the first phase of its controversial Manhattanville development scheme.

Columbia Business School and The Square. Photo: Iwan Baan.

Kravis Hall, 12th Avenue Retail facing Riverside Drive Viaduct. Photo: Iwan Baan.

Earlier pushback against the two-decade-long effort had been unable to derail the CU’s largest-ever expansion, which has been steadily taking form after a series of community reinvestment efforts brokered between the school and its neighbors in the mid-2010s.

Construction on the new school building began in 2016 after the firm won an international competition for the $600 million project in 2011.

Kravis Hall Facade. Photo: I...

Feilden+Mawson envisions new art and architecture campus for one of the Czech Republic's top universities

2022-01-18T18:35:00-05:00

A much-needed upgrade is coming to one of the most popular universities in the Czech Republic thanks to plans for a new art and architecture campus for Brno University of Technology from Feilden+Mawson’s FAM Architekti studio.

Image: Feilden+Mawson / FAM Architekti

The Prague-based entity is responsible for the transformation of a 19th-century former army barracks into what will become the new home for both the architecture and fine arts faculties. A full-scale extension of one of the two main extant buildings will provide architecture students with design studios, a library, and auditorium space while the fine arts facilities only require minor additions and alterations. Each will be connected through a large new opening which houses a cafe.

Image: Feilden+Mawson / FAM Architekti

FAM is envisioning the architecture facility as an open floor plan with “sort of a studio landscape.” A large central atrium stands...

Adjaye Associates unveils design for the new Africa Institute campus in Sharjah

2021-07-28T20:01:00-04:00

A new academic center will transform the skyline of the UAE’s third-largest city thanks to a partnership between a renowned architect and an ascendent academic institution dedicated to the study of Africa in the Arab world.

Adjaye Associates has released its designs for the new Africa Institute campus in the city of Sharjah. The project was announced in September following a two-year collaboration between the firm and the Institute first established in 1976.

The 343,000-square-foot plan will provide a new home for the Institute’s academic programs, which focus on African culture, languages, and the African Diaspora. Five reddish concrete blocks form a program of interconnected outdoor courtyards cooled by large overhangs and bookended by a post office roundabout in the city’s Al Mankah neighborhood.

Per the architect: “The project contemplates how one lives and learns, stimulated by this region where the language of the cour...

Plans for a new humanities center and concert hall at Oxford University have been unveiled

2021-07-09T17:37:00-04:00

Designs for a brand new concert hall at Oxford University have been unveiled, adding an elegant new music venue to the centuries-old campus thanks to a £150 million ($209 million) gift.

The proposed new Stephen A. Schwarzman Center for the Humanities has three distinct performance spaces varying in size and is currently undergoing a second public consultation on the new building’s design before plans are formally submitted to Oxford City Council in the fall.

Images courtesy Oxford University public consultation

Hopkins Architects are behind the scheme for the new concert hall, which will have separate 500-, 250-, and 100-seat spaces and will provide a much-needed upgrade to the existing venues on campus, of which some can recall fondly performances from bygone luminaries such as Handel.

The Center will also serve as the new home for Oxford’s history and humanities faculties. Furthermore, it will feature a dedicated humanities library and new Institute for Ethics in AI, forming an ove...

Urban Projects Bureau supports STEAM education with newly completed school building

2020-04-06T19:17:00-04:00

The Urban Projects Bureau (UPB) has recently completed its second building at Graveney School in Tooting, London. The Observatory Block came from a long-term collaboration between the school and UPB. The UPB team recieved funding for a new 8-classroom teaching block in 2017, which after additional crowd-funding, later became the 10-classroom Observatory Block enjoyed by the school today.

The new building supports the school's STEAM program and encourages and facilitates learning surrounding space, time, and the universe. As such, the architecture's design guides users' gaze toward the sky. External walkways, terraces, and teaching spaces are held at each of the structure's three levels and habitable roof terraces allow for star-watching and other activities.

A cylindrical staircase leads building-goers from the lower level up to the roof. On the elevated journey upward, a chandelier hangs in the center of the spiral stair. Students can program the chandelier to represent various con...

How BIM and Augmented Reality aid the construction of new dorms at UIC

2019-09-11T18:11:00-04:00

As many architects know, throughout each phase of a project, finding ways to streamline production and efficiency is vital, as are improving cost efficiency and project delivery times. Several construction companies are combining their use of design platforms like BIM with augmented reality (AR) applications to help achieve these and other goals. The future of construction is changing as a result.

Chicago-based Pepper Construction, for example, combines BIM approaches and Microsoft HoloLens to help design and construct their projects. Most recently, the firm applied these techniques to the construction of a new housing and academic facility at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC).

The construction team, in collaboration with UIC, American Campus Communities, and architects Solomon Cordwell Buenz, turned their job site into an integrative and interactive construction zone.

Harrison Hall Construction...

Deborah Berke Partners completes new $19M residence hall for Dickinson College

2018-08-23T18:06:00-04:00

Ahead of the new academic year, Dickinson College has opened a new $19 million residence hall that will house 130 students. The High Street Residence Hall, the Carlisle liberal arts college's first new residence hall since 1973, is part of a $46 million campus investment plan that began in 2012. Officials said demand for on-campus housing exceeded available space, prompting the start of construction on the new residence hall last year.

Deborah Berke Partners' new dormitory for Dickinson College in Carlisle, PA is now open for the upcoming academic school year.

The 40,500 square foot building is currently targeted to be LEED Platinum, making it the first college residence hall in Pennsylvania to achieve this level if approved. The dorm features an upgraded stormwater management system with four rain gardens.

The residence hall was designed with an energy efficient roof, exterior walls, and windows. The facility connects with the colleges' central energy plant to reduce carbon emissions.

Collaborating Firms
Deborah Berke Partners – Architect and Interior Designer
Andropogon – Landscape Architect
Kohler Ronan – MEP Engineer
Steven Winter Associates – LEED/Environmental Consultant
PHT Lighting – Lighting...

Tradition for Sale

2017-10-31T17:29:00-04:00

Yale has just completed two new residential colleges near the heart of campus: a superblock of neo-Gothic fantasy. This reversion to an archaic visual language exemplifies a troubling trend. With their new architecture, universities all too often abdicate leadership in promoting artistic innovation as they pander to plutocratic donors.

Columnist Belmont Freeman takes a critical look at Yale's RAMSA-designed Benjamin Franklin College and Pauli Murray College in his latest piece for Places.

While Freeman marvels at their extraordinary evocation of tradition, he argues that their historicism represents a missed opportunity to reinvent the residential college for the 21st century — as Saarinen did on the same campus in the middle of the 20th.

J Mayer H's newly completed, FOM University in Düsseldorf, draws inspiration from former freight station it sits on

2017-09-29T13:49:00-04:00

FOM University is Germany's largest private university with over 42,000 students and 31 locations in Germany, as well as outposts in Luxembourg and China. Touting the biggest economic and business sciences faculty in the country, the school has gradually increased in size over the years requiring them to add a new structure for the Business School in Düsseldorf.

Photo by David Franck

The new 8,000 meter-squared academic building, which hosts auditoriums, lecture halls, and seminar rooms, will accommodate an additional 1,500 students and staff. Located in "Le Quartier Central," the new, mixed-use addition has been designed by Jürgen Mayer H. The German architect and artist— whose portfolio spans from numerous exhibitions and installations, to large-scale urban planning schemes and public buildings—has become known for his eye-catching work

Photo by David Franck

According to the New York Times, Mayer wan...

Archinect - News

Cooper Robertson unveils campus master plan for the University of Maryland

Renzo Piano Building Workshop puts the finishing touches on 600 W. 125th residential tower for Columbia University

HGA leverages Maine's 'working forest' identity for a pair of mass timber structures at Bowdoin College

Diamond Schmitt/LemayMichaud to design 'generational' campus expansion at McGill University

Harvard's new Enterprise Research Campus breaks ground in Boston

A ‘textural and reflective building skin’ wraps the University of Washington’s new Health Sciences Education Building

New York’s School Construction Authority is preparing for a school building boom

Studio Gang to design new sustainability commons at Stanford

Deborah Berke Partners designs a new all-electric, hybrid steel and cross-laminated timber residential hall for Brown University

Howard University begins Myrtilla Miner Building restoration, initiating $785 million campus master plan

Steven Holl completes Rubenstein Commons at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, NJ

Maya Lin's second academic building will deliver a new performing arts studio to Bard College

SOM completes new Wellesley College Science Complex, an 'interplay between old and new'

LEVER Architecture to design new home for Portland State University's School of Art + Design

Howard University announces historic $785 million investment to revitalize campus

DS+R’s Columbia Business School building opens in Manhattan

Feilden+Mawson envisions new art and architecture campus for one of the Czech Republic's top universities

Adjaye Associates unveils design for the new Africa Institute campus in Sharjah

Plans for a new humanities center and concert hall at Oxford University have been unveiled

Urban Projects Bureau supports STEAM education with newly completed school building

How BIM and Augmented Reality aid the construction of new dorms at UIC

Deborah Berke Partners​ completes new $19M residence hall for Dickinson College

Tradition for Sale

J Mayer H's newly completed, FOM University in Düsseldorf, draws inspiration from former freight station it sits on

Deborah Berke Partners completes new $19M residence hall for Dickinson College