Calvin & Tina Tyler Hall Morgan State University, MSU Baltimore Higher Education Building, Maryland USA Architecture

Calvin & Tina Tyler Hall, Morgan State University, Baltimore

Nov 25, 2021

Design: Teeple Architects with GWWO Architects

Location: E Cold Spring Ln, Baltimore, Maryland, USA

Photos by Nic Lehoux

Calvin & Tina Tyler Hall, Morgan State University, Baltimore Building

Morgan State University (MSU) in Baltimore is one of the nation’s premier historically black institutions of higher education—and the largest within the State of Maryland— offering a comprehensive range of undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral programs. Founded in 1867, the university was designated a ‘National Treasure’ in 2016 by The National Trust for Historic Preservation. Its campus extends from a historic academic quad in a neoclassical style to a campus commons surrounded by modern buildings.

View of the campus from the West with the nearby residential community in the foreground. On the former site of the campus library and a highly traversed campus intersection, the building’s signature location was specifically chosen to serve as MSU’s outward face and to bridge the gap between the historic and modern precincts of the campus and the nearby residential community:

Teeple Architects, working in collaboration with GWWO Architects, was tasked with designing a student services centre that would bridge the historic academic quad and the modern campus commons, while also establishing an iconic and uplifting ‘front-door’ to the university.

Main entrance from campus commons, at the northeast corner. The University required a progressive and captivating design that could graciously welcome students, visitors, prospective students, and their families while also knitting the campus with the community context:

The Calvin and Tina Tyler Hall Student Services Centre improves the overall student experience by establishing a welcoming entry point for current and prospective students, and gathering the university’s formerly dispersed administrative and student services under a single roof. As a student’s first official point of contact with the university, and their key administrative interface throughout their studies, the student centre was designed to affirm Morgan’s State’s long-standing position as a preeminent public university with a positive future.

The building has an expressive form, with sweeping curved walls that reach out to embrace its surroundings and invite students into the dynamic campus, while its stone cladding links it to history and tradition. Much care was given to finding a limestone cladding that would blend with the palette of Maryland field stone found on the older adjacent buildings while allowing for a more contemporary architectural expression desired by the university. After a thorough material selection process, the university settled on distinctively dark Eramosa limestone from a quarry in Ontario, located three hours north of Teeple Architects’ office.

The limestone cladding is accented with prismatic metal cladding that subtly shifts between rich copper and orange hues, depending on the weather, time of day and viewing angle.

Topographically, both the academic quad and the campus commons sit a full storey above the surrounding neighborhood. To negotiate the grade separation, there are two connected main entrances. One entrance is located at street-level and the other is a full storey above, at the campus commons.

A large landscaped arrival court invites students and visitors towards the street-level entrance where grand stairs, both interior and exterior, mark a formal procession up to the campus commons-level. With the ground floor partially embedded into the hillside, the landscape encircling the building makes use of terraced rain gardens or heavily planted bio-retention features designed to meet Baltimore’s stringent storm water management requirements.

Inside, the student centre features departmental reception areas and service desks organized along a series of flowing, multi-storey lounges with ample seating, study and collaboration spaces. A monumental stair with gently curved landings and a continuous wood soffit forms the connective tissue between the three levels of public lobbies and lounges, leading to various student-facing departments and culminating with a large student services counter.

On the third floor there’s a large landscaped terrace, planted with tall grasses and native pollinator species including Maryland’s state flower, the black-eyed Susan. A space for small events and gatherings, this terrace has panoramic views of the academic quad, centered on historic Holmes Hall.

The iconic new student centre embodies the university’s pride in its history, and optimism for the future.

Calvin & Tina Tyler Hall Morgan State University, Baltimore – Building Information

Location: Baltimore, Maryland, USA
Client: Morgan State University
Completion: September 2020
Size: 141,675 sq ft
Facility Type: Academic (Student Services)
Sustainability: LEED® Silver

Design Architect: Teeple Architects Inc.
Architect of Record: GWWO Architects
FFE Architect: KPN Architects
Construction Management: Barton Malow
Structural Engineers: ReStl Designers Inc.
Mechanical Engineers: Mueller Associates
Electrical Engineers: WFT Engineering
Plumbing & Fire Protection: WFT Engineering
Civil Engineers: Carroll Engineering

LEED® Consultant: Sustainable Design Consulting
Landscape Architecture: Floura Teeter
Transportation: Symmetra Design
Geotechnical & Site: Navarro & Wright
Acoustic: Acoustical Design Collaborative
Lighting: MCLA
AV, IT & Security: speXsys
Cost: Forella Group
Permit Expeditor: NMP Engineering

Teeple Architects

Teeple Architects shapes buildings through an open, collaborative process rooted in curiosity and pragmatic optimism. Founded in 1989, our practice integrates sustainability and technical expertise with formal exploration to create buildings that embody the dynamism of the communities they serve.

The Teeple Architects Toronto and Vancouver studios draw on the collective skills and expertise of a diverse and talented team of design professionals. Under the leadership of Principals Stephen Teeple (Founder), Chris Radigan (Emeritus), Myles Craig, Tomer Diamant, Avery Guthrie, Richard Lai and Wes Wilson, we work with discipline and imaginations to shape ideas into places that bring aspirations to life.

As industry leaders, we have received some of architecture’s most esteemed national and international awards including six Governor General’s Medals for design excellence, two AIA Awards, four Plan Awards, eight Canadian Architect Awards, 13 Ontario Association of Architects awards, two Prairie Design Awards, one Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia Architecture Award, 14 urban design awards from Canadian municipalities, as well as awards for innovation from both the BC and Alberta WoodWorks! programs. Our leadership in the field of sustainable and resilient design has earned us the a Holcim Award for Sustainable Design, four Innovation in LEED® awards from the Canadian Green Building Council, and we have more than 25 LEED® projects either completed or under construction.

GWWO Architects

Based in Baltimore, GWWO Architects designs buildings that enrich the human experience with an approach that is inspirational, evocative, and progressive. For more than 30 years, the firm has specialized in the design of educational and cultural facilities that are grounded in a focused, indepth exploration of a project’s goals and context—cultural, historical, and environmental.

This exploration reveals each project’s essence, which ultimately influences every aspect of design and results in work that is of, by, and about its place and purpose. The firm’s work has been recognized with numerous awards for design excellence and sustainability at the local, regional, and national levels. Recent projects include the Maryland Institute College of Art Dolphin Design Center, Community College of Baltimore County Carol Diane Eustis Center for Health Professions, and Johns Hopkins University O’Connor Recreation Center.

Photos: Nic Lehoux

Teeple Architects

Calvin & Tina Tyler Hall, Morgan State University, Baltimore building images / information received 241121 from Teeple Architects

Address: Morgan State University, E Cold Spring Lane, Baltimore, Maryland, MD 21218, USA

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