PROJECT  University of Maryland, Thurgood Marshall Hall

LOCATION College Park, Maryland, US​

ARCHITECT LEO A DALY

CLIENT University of Maryland, College Park

ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN TEAM Rauzia Ally, AIA, NCARB – Managing Principal; David Zelig – Director of Operations; Irena Savakova - Lead Designer; Anya Grant, AIA – Project Manager; Andrew Graham, AIA, NCARB - Technical Director, Sr Architect; Shanshan Yin - Sr. Designer

LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT Floura Teeter Landscape Architects
CONTRACTOR J. Vinton Schafer Construction, LLC

ENGINEERS
Hope Furrer Associates
A Morton Thomas & Associates, Inc.
Affiliated Engineers Inc.
Affiliated Engineers Inc.

PHOTOGRAPHER Ron Blunt & Paul Dingman

CONSULTANTS (if applicable)
WFT Engineering – Plumbing/Fire Protection Engineer, Andreas Constantinou AndreasC@wfteng.com
NV5/The Sextant Group – Telecom/AV & Acoustics, Wil Taft Wil.Taft@nv5.com
Spexsys – Security, Mark Scanga mark@spexsys.com
MCLA – Lighting Design, Scott Guenther guenther@mcla-inc.com

PROJECT COMPLETION DATE  7/22/2022

PROJECT SUMMARY
Thurgood Marshall Hall is a compelling expression of the University’s dedication to serving the public good. Home to the School of Public Policy, the four-story, 77,000-square-foot building brings together more than 90 faculty members and 1,000 students formerly dispersed across four separate facilities.
The new building — named for the first Black justice appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court and opened to students in fall 2022 — functions as the nerve center of public discourse and nonprofit activity on campus. It also stands at the heart of a new entrance to campus, serving as a welcoming gateway for students and visitors.

The democratic ideals of visibility and transparency served as organizing principles that guided the design of every element — from the interior program to the exterior expression.

The design concept is rooted in the spatial typology of the ancient Agora of Athens and its social heart, the Roman Forum, both of which served as the birthplace of democratic thought and public discourse. Drawing inspiration from this history, and from the architectural forms it pioneered, the building functions as a magnet for scholars across campus and experts from across the world as they gather to learn, collaborate and actualize the future of public policy.

Highly visible from Baltimore Avenue, a main thoroughfare flanking the campus, the cascading architectural form follows the natural slope of Chapel Field, a prominent open space on campus. Its carefully sculpted form also forms an elegant edge to Do Good Plaza, a shared outdoor event space on the building’s east side.

The façade blends contemporary expressions of openness and transparency with materials and rhythmic elements found in the adjacent Georgian-inspired campus buildings. Looking beyond the immediate examples present on campus, the design team explored the fundamentals of Georgian architecture in both their original and modern interpretations. This exploration led to an emphasis on depth and shadow, and a more delicate rendition of the rhythmic cadence of the established colonnades present on campus.

The deliberative chamber, an oval-shaped sculpted space created for United Nations-style debate, is the program’s crowning element. Placed as a floating element within a transparent glass massing visible from Do Good Plaza. The 46-seat classroom is an object of inquisitive curiosity and inspiration, attracting attention from every side. Integrated technology enables multilingual discussion and links digitally with institutions worldwide for real-time global discourse.

The building also houses the Do Good Institute, a not-for-profit incubator that is the physical manifestation of the University’s mission of becoming “the nation’s first Do Good Campus.”

An adjacent light-rail transit station, served by the currently under construction Purple Line expansion, provides convenient access to and from communities throughout Prince George's County, Montgomery County and Washington, D.C.

JURY COMMENTS (if applicable)

We appreciated the response to the campus architecture -- it contributes to the surrounding context with a modern building that reinterprets the Georgian campus. It carries its strength in the exterior.

IMAGES – CAPTIONS & CREDITS

Image 1  SOUTH EAST FAÇADE – TOWN AND GOWN CONNECTION. RON BLUNT - ARCHITECTURAL PHOTOGRAPHY
Image 2  TERRACE FOR COLLABORATION AND DISCOURSE WITH VIEW TOWARDS THE CAMPUS CHAPEL. RON BLUNT - ARCHITECTURAL PHOTOGRAPHY
Image 3  THE FORUM SPACE. RON BLUNT - ARCHITECTURAL PHOTOGRAPHY
Image 4  THE CADENCE OF THE AGORA SPACE VIEWED FROM OUTSIDE. RON BLUNT - ARCHITECTURAL PHOTOGRAPHY
Image 5  MULTIFUNCTIONAL LIBRARY SPACE CONNECTED TO THE TERRACE FOR COLLABORATION. RON BLUNT - ARCHITECTURAL PHOTOGRAPHY
Image 6  VIEW FROM THE MULTIFUNCTIONAL LIBRARY SPACE. RON BLUNT - ARCHITECTURAL PHOTOGRAPHY
Image 7  WEST BUILDING ENTRY. Photo © Paul Dingman 2022
Image 8  MULTIPURPOSE ATRIUM SERVING THE COLLAGE PARK CAMPUS. RON BLUNT - ARCHITECTURAL PHOTOGRAPHY

MEDIA FOR DOWNLOAD
Project PDF