At last, the law-school building is opening—despite the intervening recession, the recent drop in the number of students interested in law school, and an almost impossibly cramped site hemmed in by city streets, a highway, and railroad tracks. The new building is, I’m happy to report, as memorable as any in the city—and that includes Fort McHenry and Robert Mills’s Washington Monument.
Each city has a few places that are appropriate for architectural landmarks that say, “look at me.” When the building opened in April, UB received precisely what it had aimed for: an architectural gem and iconic attention-getter that moves UB’s law center to the next level.
Check out this fast-motion video of the start-to-finish construction of the new John and Frances Angelos Law Center, home to the University of Baltimore School of Law.
Vice President Joe Biden and U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Elena Kagan, among other dignitaries, were on hand at a ribbon-cutting ceremony to open the new John and Frances Angelos Law Center at the University of Baltimore in Maryland. The 190,000-square-foot building, designed by Behnisch with Baltimore’s Ayers/Saint/Gross, is the result of a 2008 competition that called for a new law center which would be both contemporary and functional.
The University of Arizona (UA) College of Medicine-Phoenix, in partnership with and Northern Arizona University (NAU), is creating a new model for an integrated and interdisciplinary approach to health sciences education and research. Innovative in this endeavor is the collaboration and merging of these programs from two universities with distinct institutional cultures on one campus—Phoenix Biomedical Campus in downtown Phoenix.
The signs of the recession’s end can be seen in ENR’s Top 500 Design Firms list. The Top 500, taken as a group, had overall design revenue of $90.24 billion in 2012, up 6.1% from $85.06 billion in 2011. This marks the second year the Top 500 experienced revenue growth since the recession began. Ayers Saint Gross is ranked #290!
Officials at the Enoch Pratt Free Library are launching a $96 million restoration to the Central Branch this spring that will include upgrades to bring the historic building into the wireless age as books and readers go digital.
Designed by Behnisch Architekten in partnership with Ayers Saint Gross, the John and Frances Angelos Law Center has opened at the University of Maryland. The building, situated opposite Penn Station, comprises three interlocking L-shaped forms that house classrooms, offices, and the law library.
If anything could recapture this prominent corner site from the Abominable Glow Man fronting Penn Station (aka the 51-foot tall Male/Female sculpture), it is the University of Baltimore’s new John and Frances Angelos Law Center. It is the city’s best new education building since Tod Williams and Billy Tsien’s Mattin Student Art Center for the Johns Hopkins University (2001).
We wanted to update you on our exciting progress with the new Fred W. Smith National Library for the Study of George Washington. The project is moving ahead at a very fast pace. There is much activity at the site and we are on target for our opening.
