A. James Clark Hall (2015)
Craig Spangler ‘82, Stephen Bartlett ’82 and Rachel Mihaly ’11, M.Arch. ’14 / Ballinger
A gleaming beacon on UMD’s skyline named for the late philanthropist, real estate developer and 1950 graduate, UMD’s home for bioengineering is an immersive, visionary space. A solar veil inspired by the structure of DNA shades three stories of laboratories, flex classrooms and meeting areas, while the building’s 300-foot glass frontage puts both engineering and engineers on display. Several design touches pay tribute to Robert E. Fischell ’53, a trailblazer in the biomedical field, namesake for that department at the university, and donor to this building: a wooden staircase that takes its shape from the implantable heart defibrillator he co-invented; and a 20-foot-tall support column in the entryway that replicates Fischell’s BX Velocity Stent. 

Fun Fact:  Taking a cue from Hollywood movie sets, a ceiling-mounted track cable that runs the length of the Leidos Innovation Lab can move objects up to three tons in and out of the building through a set of two-story-high doors at the building’s north end.

Fun fact: In 1950, UMD’s Engineering Classroom Building (now Glenn Martin Hall) was the first project for A. James Clark ’50, a field engineer for the George Hyman Construction Co. The design, by nationally acclaimed firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill,intentionally resembled from above a slide rule, an engineer’s most trusted tool.

Building interest: While the idea for a bioengineering building had been percolating for years at UMD’s A. James Clark School of Engineering, it was a student project from the architecture school that finally got it on the drawing board. Over the course of a semester, students developed several renderings for a proposed building under the guidance of then-Deans David Cronrath and Darryll J. Pines, presenting them in a last-minute meeting to Robert E. Fischell, just days before their final exams. “He melted,” recalls Professor Bill Bentley, who arranged the meeting. His gift provided the seed money for what is now A. James Clark Hall.
 
Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center (1999)
Glenn Birx ’80 / Ayers Saint Gross
The sprawling building’s design resulted from an international design competition organized by Professor Roger Lewis and then-dean of the School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, Steve Hurtt. The winning design by Moore Ruble Yudell and guided by Ayers Saint Gross provides a vibrant hub for the performing arts at Maryland, as well as an iconic entry to campus from University Boulevard. Incorporating the signature red brick, neo-Georgian style of campus, the design features five independent performing arts venues clustered around a common public lobby. “I remember the grand opening ceremony vividly,” says Birx. “There was a short orchestral piece played in the symphony hall, followed by the Terps marching band encircled on the mezzanine blasting trumpets and drums. It was the loudest noise I’ve ever heard indoors!”

Fun Fact:  The building is still a learning laboratory for MAPP students, who in 2018 created a new design for The Clarice’s Applause Café, complete with custom furniture.
 
Eppley Recreation Center (1998)
Glenn Birx ’80 / Ayers Saint Gross
When Eppley was designed, the university was still in the Atlantic Coast Conference and was upgrading many facilities to stay competitive, said Glenn Birx, principal on the project. The biggest obstacle? UMD’s only student recreation facilities, Ritchie Coliseum and the Armory, lacked a 50-meter pool, key for training a world-class swimming team. With the Eppley site situated on a steep hill at the edge of campus, its linear footprint was Birx’s creative way to accommodate the large architectural volume needed for the natatorium and adjoining outdoor pool, the first on campus. The building’s pedestrian spine allows students direct access to the many offerings of Eppley: an indoor track, two gymnasiums, weight and fitness rooms and more.
 
School of Public Policy Building (2021)
Irena Savakova M.Arch ’95
When conceiving the design for the new home of UMD’s School of Public Policy, Savakova turned to the birthplace of public discourse: Athens’ Ancient Agora. The modern descendant now under construction along Baltimore Avenue will convene students, faculty, visitors and campus events within a carefully choreographed series of spaces that add up to a place where the leaders of today can engage the change-makers of tomorrow. “You have to go back to the roots of how public policy came to be; where this diverse group of people would engage in discussions about how best to orchestrate the public good,” says Savakova. “From an architectural standpoint, the agora allows for these types of conversations to occur, all while coexisting with the practice of the marching band, the activity of Baltimore Avenue, the ringing of the Chapel Bell. I want people who visit this space to get a sense of something really special.” Spaces are intentionally multifunctional, with the flexibility to host public events, accommodate classes, even mimic the debate and deliberation staging of the United Nations. A fourth-floor terrace, interconnected with library space, was conceived after Dean Robert Orr expressed his desire for a special area for speakers to engage with students.

Fun fact: The U.S. mail facility on Baltimore Avenue was the only building on campus designed by an architecture faculty member, Associate Professor Ferdinand Johns. It was demolished in 2015 to make way for The Hotel at the University of Maryland.

Edward St. John Learning and Teaching Center (2017)
Glenn Birx ‘80, Noa Harburger M.Arch. ’04, Stephen Pasquerello ’15, M.Arch. ’17, Michael Salsbury M.Arch. ’96, Michael Taylor ’08, M.Arch. ’13, Allison Wilson ’09, M.Arch. ’11, Chi Yan ’01, M.Arch. ’07, Irini Zhupa ’09 / Ayers Saint Gross
The newest addition to McKeldin Mall, the gleaming ESJ, as it’s called, is the first multipurpose academic building constructed on the College Park campus in 50 years. “The building was designed with a 50/50 share of formal classrooms and informal gathering spaces,” says Yan. “As a result, it serves as a student-centric hub to approximately 12,000 students each day.” At the heart of the building sits the iconic large red staircase, which serves as a focal point in the building’s light-filled main lobby and an impossible-to-miss rendezvous spot. 
 
New Residence Hall and Dining Complex (2021)
Glenn Birx ’80, Jasmine Shah ’04, Andrew Casavant ’10, M.C.P. ’14, Anne Dutton ’01, M.Arch. ’03, Glenn Neighbors ’82, Dana Perzynski ’06 / Ayers Saint Gross
When designing the facility for campus’ northwest side, Jasmine Shah wanted to create a “third place” for students to gather that would foster lasting memories and friendships. She turned to the Architecture Building’s Great Space for inspiration, a place she spent countless hours during her time at Maryland. “The Great Space in the architectural school was so integral to my education and experience as an undergraduate,” she says. “It provided a sense of community: a place to gather, share ideas, learn and live.” The project paid special attention to the connective space between the buildings, carving out a place for students to congregate, study and socialize.

Fun fact: Ayers Saint Gross’ new dining facility will be the first new dining hall at UMD since 1974.
 
Oakland Hall (2011)
Bob Keane ’87 / WDG
As an architecture student, Bob Keane lived in the smallest residence hall on campus, the Georgian-style Howard Hall. His design for Oakland is its antithesis: UMD’s largest, as well as the first new residential hall since 1982. The LEED Gold-certified Oakland intersperses UMD’s signature brickwork with abundant glass and metal; full-height bay windows flood common spaces with light and corrugated metal roofing offers a sustainable reinterpretation of the traditional slate roof—ideas Keane doubled down on a few years later for Prince Frederick Hall across campus. “Resident halls are typically not really glamorous buildings,” says Keane. “But that doesn’t mean they can’t be elegant and dynamic and use interesting materials.”
 
Prince Frederick Hall (2014)
Bob Keane ’87 / WDG
Nicknamed “P-Freddy” by the student consultants tapped by WDG during the design process, Prince Frederick Hall is a residence hall of firsts: It’s the first on campus to house freshman and seniors together, each owning a wing of the glassy, L-shaped building with opportunities to “meet in the middle” through common spaces in what the design team calls “the knuckle.” It’s the first at Maryland to offer single-use, gender-neutral bathrooms on each floor; the “spa-like” quality of its bathrooms is arguably the best on campus. It’s the first to ramp-up the university’s concept of “living-learning”, and where cybersecurity students from the university’s Advanced Cybersecurity Experience for Students (ACES) program can roll out of bed and into class on the first floor. And it’s the first dorm to have its own Maryland Dairy ice cream flavor, “P-Freddy’s Party,” a vanilla base with celebration cake pieces throughout. “I get great satisfaction in the fact that the students love the building,” says Keane. “I never take that for granted. With Prince Frederick, we kind of nailed it.”
 
Knight Hall (2010)
Steve Parker ’72 and Kieran Wilmes ’97 / Grimm + Parker
A glassy, two-story corridor is the most distinctive space of Knight Hall—named after publishing brothers John S. and James L. Knight—but it wasn’t part of the building’s original program. After an early meeting with the then-dean of the journalism school the concept for a campus gathering space was first conceived —a pipeline for students and faculty into the heart of campus from Lot 1 in the form of an expansive, light-filled hall, with places to meet and catch up on the latest headlines. “We knew the building, sited on the edge of campus, needed to deviate from the traditional brick structures of campus to emulate the transparent nature of journalism and serve as a news gathering space, not just for journalism students, but the entire campus community,” Parker says, As the building footprint couldn’t be expanded, he and Wilmes worked with faculty to “steal” square footage from classrooms and labs to carve out the space anchored by the school’s auditorium and obligatory coffee shop—teaching students early what fuels the day’s news.
 
Bioscience Research Building (2007)
Craig Spangler ’82, Stephen Bartlett ’82 and Katherine Wohlsen M. Arch. ’96 / Ballinger
Originally plotted as an addition to Hornbake Plaza’s stately Biology-Psychology building, Barnett says the design team knew the space, which faced Maryland’s playing fields, was an opportunity to set the stage for the campus’ future. “It was this nondescript backside of a building that trailed away to the service areas without contributing anything to campus in a clever or meaningful way,” he says. “But the university was converging on it from all sides.” The solution was to create a second front, expanding the building into an L-shaped “wrapper” that simultaneously resolved the loose ends of the biology building and created an attractive edge along Fieldhouse Drive. An aging auditorium at risk of being “landlocked” by the new space was pulled into the project at the last minute and transformed into a beautiful 500-seat auditorium and common space. While bioscience students and faculty may feel that a hidden garden courtyard at the far end of the common space is the building’s most obvious nod to its discipline, it’s when the sun sets that the building comes to life: A series of three-story columns wrapped in butcher block cladding denote a forest of trees, with leaf motif filters casting dappled light onto the floor below.
 
South Campus Commons (2001-10)
Dennis Jankiewicz ’73, Luis Bernardo ’85, M.Arch. ’87, Ed Kohls ’74 and Jeffrey Banner ’82 / Design Collective
The seven-building residential community on the southern edge of campus added nearly 2,200 beds in an innovative living-learning dormitory design, with red brick facades gracefully woven into the existing campus fabric. It made sense to put the entry point on Knox Road, but a meeting with then-Dean Steve Hurtt and Facilities Director William Mallari ‘84 illuminated an opportunity the designers had missed: a near-perfect visual line to UMD’s Memorial Chapel. The entryway was scrapped for a multi-story archway that cuts right through the building—one of campus’ most picturesque gateways. “It created a truly iconic structure that just so happened to frame perfectly the vista to the chapel,” says Bernardo, the team leader. “I wish I could take some credit for it.”  
 
Computer Science Instructional Center (2002)
Roger Schwabacher M.Arch. ’99 / HOK
The compact, curved building for the Department of Computer Science, now dwarfed by the Iribe Center, joined much-needed office and classroom space with an inviting atrium, but it’s the exterior that transformed the pocket of campus. Sandwiched between Baltimore Avenue and UMD’s Wind Tunnel, the site includes a creative landscape design that carved out an inviting courtyard away from the bustle of campus, with abundant native plantings and places to sit. This was Schwabacher’s first project as a newly minted architect, and it spoiled him professionally for life. “It was completely smooth, from concepts to construction,” he laughs. “I just assumed every project would be like that!”

Fun Fact: Catch the back curvature of the building at the right time of day, you’ll see an intricate pattern in the brick painstakingly designed by Schwabacher—but don’t blink or you’ll miss it, because the pattern only differs from surrounding bricks by about a half inch. “Most of the time you wouldn’t even know it was there,” he says. “I tell all of my designers on staff, if you’re going to do brickwork, the spacing’s got to be at least two inches!” 

Washington Quad (2008)
Tom Zeigenfuss ’94, M.Arch. ’00 / Design Collective
Nestled between six dormitories on the south side of campus, the redevelopment was a unique opportunity to stitch together existing pathways and vistas with a centered, connected green space. Using the principle of the “second man,” where any new design element serves to build on and even enhance existing architecture and landscape, Zeigenfuss created a “living room” of sorts—an outdoor social hub with places for congregating and activities. The quad’s 10,000-gallon underground cistern, which collects rainwater from the adjacent roofs, serves a critical function in water management, hydrating the 96 trees and hundreds of native plants on site. The concept has garnered a lot of love from the UMD community, he says. “It’s the only ‘space’ I’ve seen on campus that has a Google rating—some of the reviews are hilarious.”
 
Fun fact: Zeigenfuss’ summer intern who helped with the design and documentation was Jake Day ‘04, now the mayor of Salisbury.     
 
Xfinity Center (2002)
Ed Kohls ’77, Jeffrey Banner ’82 and Eric Wohnsigl ’91, M.Arch. ’00 / Design Collective
When it became clear Maryland basketball had outgrown its beloved Cole Field House, two firms—Baltimore’s Design Collective and Ellerbe Becket of Kansas City—were brought in to conceive a new home. “There was a huge emotional attachment to Cole, and the university wanted to instill a similar sentiment with the new space,” says Kohls.One of Cole’s most distinguishing characteristics, he says, was the student influence on game outcomes via overwhelming noise and numbers. As a result, the 17,950-seat Xfinity Center has one of the largest student sections in the country, with about 4,000 dedicated student seats flanking each side of the court and arranged in a steeply raked section behind the visiting team’s second-half basket. Kohl affectionately refers to this area as “The Wall”: A sea of Maryland color and cacophony capable of making any visitors’ free throw an ordeal. “It was probably the most interesting aspect of the design as it was physically and electronically modeled over and over again until it was deemed ‘just right’,” he says. While Cole lives on in the hearts of many, Xfinity—one of the largest sports complexes in the Big Ten—has advantages even the most old-school alums will admit. “Cole didn’t have air conditioning, and the arena floor could be 15 to 20 degrees warmer than the concourse,” says Kohls. “Attending games, practices or classes always left us drenched.” 
 
Center for Young Children (1993)
Ed Kohls ’77 and Jeffrey Banner ’82 / Design Collective
Kohls and Banner paid special attention to how young, curious minds experience and engage with their environment—an idea shaped every aspect of the center, from the all-purpose Great Room to the sunburst on the entry pediment, all the way down to the floor design. Originally slated to be simple vinyl composite flooring, Banner had the idea of creating a large-scale repeating pattern, a whimsical element for users who undoubtedly spend a lot of time close to the ground. “I wanted to make it fun and interesting,” he says. “The pattern appeared random within an individual room but could be seen as part of an overall larger pattern spanning areas throughout the building.”
 
Mayer Mall (2005-09)
Steve Parker ’72 and Kieran Wilmes ’97 / Grimm+Parker
The transformation of the drab part of south campus was part of Robert H. Smith’s vision of a special place for the business school and surrounding campus community. Tradition, permanence and an established feel was of utmost importance to the 1950 graduate and famed developer, so, in addition to extensive brickwork and the Insta-worthy clock tower, mature trees from New Jersey, with root balls “the size of your kitchen” were shipped in on an enormous flatbed truck and installed with 100-ton cranes. “His attitude was, ‘I’m not going to be around forever; I want these trees established.’” Wilmes says. “We knew we couldn’t plant two-foot maple saplings and wait for them to grow.” With the recent addition of Prince Frederick Hall, the south part of campus continues evolving in a stately direction that Smith would applaud. “The energy of a campus usually comes after the buildings are added, not before, so it was highly unusual and one of the most memorable experiences of my career,” Wilmes says. “The notion that someone was willing to put the resources, time and wherewithal onto that mall really changed that entire part of campus.”

Van Munching Hall (2008)
Tom Eichbaum ’74 / Keys Condon and Florance (now Smith Group) 1992; North wing completed by Steve Parker ’72 and Kieran Wilmes ’97 / Grimm+Parker
For Eichbaum, the most nerve-wracking experience in designing the home of the Robert H. Smith Business School was not presenting his vision to Leo Van Munching Jr. '50 but to his former teachers in the campus design review. “Here was this site, right next to the architecture school where my former professors worked every day, these people who I really looked up to that were now my clients, and I thought, ‘Oh no,’” Eichbaum says, recalling it as a “surreal” experience. A modernist designer by trade, he knew that the building—interspersing brick and glass in a mammoth, four-floor design—needed to fit in with the campus’ Georgian feel. Eichbaum designed a grand, sunlit atrium to connect the business and public policy schools, creating a shared gathering place for students and faculty.

Fun facts: When Van Munching Hall was dedicated, Leo Van Munching christened it by breaking a bottle of Heineken beer; at the time, he was president of the most successful beer importer in America, with exclusive rights to the beer brand. While Eichbaum’s design created the core of Van Munching, a subsequent north wing added in 2008 was designed by classmates Parker and Wilmes; a south wing added in 2002 was designed by Ballinger, Craig Spangler’s firm. 

Jeong H. Kim Engineering Building (2005)
Eric Carle M.Arch. ’94 / Smith Group
Situated at the heart of UMD’s “engineering corridor,” the Kim Building is where all eight engineering disciplines converge academically, so it’s fitting that an early notion to use the building itself as a learning tool is the one that defines it today. While some ideas didn’t make it off the drafting table—like a mesh-wrapped rotunda rejected by Professor Bill Fourney for resembling chicken wire—the final design pulls engineering concepts and the building’s inner workings out from behind the drywall. On display are the characteristics of exposed steel, the mechanics of the elevator, well-orchestrated, labeled mazes of pipes and building materials typically under wraps that provide stability, strength and comfort. “It helped that the fire marshal at the time was a UMD engineering grad,” says Carle. “Those aspects allowed the expression of the building to really come through. We had a lot of fun doing it.”
 
New chemistry building (2023)
Craig Spangler ’82, Stephen Bartlett ’82 and Katherine Wohlsen M.Arch. ’96 / Ballinger
Spangler’s and Wohlsen’s design is all about planning for what’s ahead. Replacing Building One, the wing will transform Chemistry Lane, a popular cut-through for students traversing campus that will surely see increased traffic once the nearby E.A,. Fernandez IDEA Factory opens in 2022. Current views of mechanical equipment and dumpsters will be replaced with ample green spaces and places to sit under the shadow of the building’s block-long glass front. The building’s “knuckle,” where the new wing will meet the old, will offer a grand event/lecture space unlike anything available on campus. “Part of the idea behind this building was to increase the variety of event spaces and create a real catalog of options for the university community,” says Spangler. The rows of glass-front lab modules are intended to flex and configure from one type of research to another. But the biggest nod to the horizon is the building’s showcase piece: the massive nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) facility, encased in glass and stacked between the ground and first floors, creating a stunning focal point at the building’s entry. Because new technologies will require the massive machinery to be replaced someday, the team designed the exterior with panels of curtain wall that can be removed, allowing cranes to ferry the equipment in and out with ease. 
 

Planning a Campus
Master plans offer a window to the future: They make space for potential programming and more students, stitch together the components of campus life and envision where people will congregate, park or grab a cup of coffee. And in the case of College Park, they can extend beyond the campus gates to create a vibrant college town. While architecture faculty, administrators and alums have all played significant roles in shaping the University of Maryland and Greater College Park since the early 1990s, a few have remained constants in the equation, including Assistant Director of Campus Development William Mallari ’84 and Architect and Planner Daniel Hayes M.H.P. ’17, who have collectively overseen nearly a dozen master plans and countless studies and have served as the collaborative glue between administration and campus architects. “This specialized form of institutional physical planning is a unique species and a long game,” says Mallari. “It doesn’t happen in a vacuum. We lead, we follow and we collaborate toward places and spaces that hopefully shape and influence the experience and growth of students, faculty, staff and general public.”