bjarke ingels group to build student center for johns hopkins university in baltimore

bjarke ingels group (BIG) has been selected to design a new student center for johns hopkins university’s homewood campus in baltimore, maryland. BIG’s design for the hopkins student center, also known as ‘the village’, is an open, modern, and welcoming facility envisioned as a social engagement hub for all members of the school community. the approximately 150,000 square foot building will include spaces for relaxation and socialization, creative and performing arts spaces, student resources and support services, lounges, a digital media center, a performance space with seating for 200 people, and a dining hall that connects directly onto a new plaza.

all images by BIG-bjarke ingels group

BIG has teamed up with shepley bulfinch as the project’s architect of record, along with rockwell group for interior design, and michael van valkenburgh associates for landscape design. located at the intersection of 33rd and charles streets, the student center for johns hopkins university will foster greater connectivity between the campus and the neighboring community by creating a prominent point of entry. it will turn this area of the campus into a dynamic hub at the crossroads of student activity. as a natural gateway, the area will connect charles village and more than 3,500 hopkins students who live in the neighborhood, to the heart of the homewood campus.

the village is conceived as a central living room surrounded by a collection of spaces tailored to the needs of the hopkins community. the building negotiates the sloping grade of the site to allow direct entry from all four levels of the building, while maintaining a human scale and providing several accessible routes across the site. arriving on charles street, students and visitors are greeted by an open building façade with dining areas spilling out onto an adjacent plaza. the mass timber structure provides a warm and acoustically comfortable environment as light filters in between the photovoltaic roof panels — features that help meet the university’s larger sustainability goals.

‘having taught at a number of world-renowned universities on the east coast, it is an incredible honor to have been chosen to create the framework for the life of the johns hopkins students,’ says bjarke ingels, founder & creative director, BIG-bjarke ingels group. ‘we have attempted to imagine and design the campus center like a village condensed from a plethora of different spaces and pavilions for the greatest possible diversity of activities, interests and sub-cultures.’

‘often the greatest ideas and breakthroughs occur away from the desk, when minds have a chance to wander, to play, to riff with others,’ adds leon rost, partner, BIG-bjarke ingels group. ‘the new hopkins student center is designed to provoke the sometimes-necessary distractions that complement rigorous academic life — a place for a future generation of salks, curies, and cricks to unlock their next great discovery.’

the entrance opens into a cascading interior landscape that comprises a cluster of flexible spaces. in turn, these open out on to four rejuvenated public areas: an events-focused commons; the shaded paths of the grove; an entry plaza at 33rd street; and a new food market and plaza to the south. furthermore, the signature red brick paths of the surrounding campus seamlessly flow throughout the new building. externally, the landscape has been shaped to result in outdoor spaces for student activities and events. a central plaza can host pop-up exhibits or performances, as well as vendors and food trucks to enliven the north charles street corridor.

the project is the result of a months-long international design competition led by a special advisory committee with students and student affairs staff included throughout the process. more than 1,200 students, faculty, staff, and alumni responded to a survey, inviting evaluation of the four design finalists with feedback on BIG’s concept was overwhelmingly positive. the proposal was praised for its open feel, connections to surrounding exterior spaces, abundance of natural daylight, and integrated features that support the university’s sustainability goals.

‘this will be a new kind of space for us — one that is not academically focused, but entirely social by design,’ says ronald j daniels, president, johns hopkins university. ‘open to all, reserved for none, and boasting the kind of flexible spaces that invite connection and collaboration, this will be a place where athletes and actors, step teams and SGA members can gather side by side.’

the new hopkins student center is set to begin construction in spring 2022, with completion scheduled for fall 2024. this is BIG’s third academic building in the united states, following the isenberg school of management business innovation hub for the university of massachusetts amherst and the heights building for arlington public schools, both completed in 2019.

project info:

name: hopkins student center
type: competition
size: 13,935 sqm / 149,995 sqf
location: baltimore, maryland, US
client: johns hopkins university
collaborators: shepley bulfinch (architect of record), rockwell group (interior architects), michael van valkenburgh associates (landscape architects)

BIG – bjarke ingels group —
partners-in-charge: bjarke ingels, leon rost
associate-in-charge: elizabeth mcdonald
project leaders: jason wu, lawrence olivier mahadoo
team: alex wu, xi zhang, chia-yu liu, guillaume evain, jakub kulisa, kig veerasunthorn, mike munoz, tom lasbrey, tony saba shiber, blake smith, corliss ng, florencia kratsman, francesca portesine, jamie maslyn larson, gabriel jewell-vitale, kevin pham, josiah poland, jialin yuan, ken chongsuwat, duncan horswill, ben caldwell, margaret tyrpa, terrence chew, tracy sodder, chris pin, alexander matthias jacobson, tore banke, frederic lucien engasser, xingyue huang, jesper petersen, kaoan hengles, juan diego perez