COLLEGE PARK, Md.—Architecture and design firm Cooper Robertson has revealed plans for a new campus expansion at the University of Maryland. The new facilities plan results from an 18-month community engagement process with students, staff and community stakeholders to help move the college campus into its next viable phase, which includes green spaces and more pedestrian thoroughfares.

Looking ahead at the next generation, Cooper Robertson’s planning includes identifying development capacity and upgrading those facilities that already exist on the campus. The college aims for net-zero carbon emissions by 2025, and improving multimodal transportation options given there will be five additional metro rail stations soon to debut near the campus itself.

“This plan builds on the University of Maryland’s role as an ambitious, forward-looking, and value-driven academic institution,” Cooper Robertson partner Mike Aziz said of the master plan for UMD. Aziz, himself a UMD alum, said that his alma mater is “setting a highly sustainable and lasting directive for the ultimate success of today’s and tomorrow’s students.”

Via the collaborations between the university and the various stakeholders, the school has come up with a wish list of projects to be tackled. This includes improving space and building performance for existing buildings as well as constructing new research facilities. The master plan also calls for a campus-wide “Innovation Walk” with open spaces and various renovated buildings, as well as biking and walking paths that connect areas both on and off the main campus. Furthermore, campus streets will be redesigned so that motor vehicles as well as scooters and bicycles connect key points on the campus while prioritizing pedestrian accessibility.

“Our Campus Facilities Plan is more than just a blueprint for development; it’s a commitment to our university’s holistic growth,” UMD President Darryll J. Pines said in an earlier statement. “This vision, fueled by input from our diverse community, signifies our dedication to creating environments where every student can thrive, learn and lead.”

In a subsequent statement emailed to School Construction News, Aziz of Cooper Robertson said that decarbonization is one of the key tenets of his firm’s plans for UMD as the school aims to move away from fossil fuels.

“Our strategy for achieving this centers on a phased shift from a centralized steam plant towards district-scale electrification,” Aziz said. “The idea is to combine satellite utility buildings with a large-scale geothermal system, alongside deep energy retrofits on existing buildings and a focus on very high levels of energy efficiency for new buildings. There are a lot of moving pieces in this strategy, but we think the environmental — and operational — benefits are well worth the effort.”

No general contractor has yet been announced for this master plan.

Cooper Robertson’s recent educational work includes expansions at George Washington and Georgia State, as well as other renovations at Caltech, Yale, Georgetown, Duke Medical School, Ohio State and the University of Delaware.

The post University of Maryland Unveils New Campus Vision appeared first on School Construction News.

COLLEGE PARK, Md.—Architecture firm Cooper Robertson was selected by the University of Maryland as the lead developer for the school’s facilities master plan.

The three-phased project aims to realize a comprehensive framework for Maryland as the university continues to develop in the 21st century, mostly notably at its main campus in College Park, located on the outskirts of Washington, D.C. As part of its work, Cooper Robertson will be tasked with identifying areas in and around College Park where the university can reasonably afford to expand its existing campus. Such work will also entail examining transportability options in the increasingly busy capital region—which has been beset by lengthy delays over the long-gestating Purple Line of the area’s Metro rail. Cooper Robertson will also look at ways to increase the school’s renewable and sustainable energy options.

“The development of this facilities master plan builds on the University of Maryland’s role as an ambitious, forward-looking, and value-driven academic institution,” Cooper Robertson partner Mike Aziz, a leader of the master planning effort and a University of Maryland alum, said recently of his company’s significant work for his alma mater.

In addition to its work at Maryland, Cooper Robertson has undertaken data-driven planning for such other universities as Georgia State, George Washington University, the University of Delaware, North Carolina State, Ohio State, the University of North Carolina, Cal Tech, Yale, Harvard, Georgetown and the Duke University Medical School.

The post Cooper Robertson Tapped for U of Maryland’s Master Plan appeared first on School Construction News.

COLLEGE PARK, Md.—Construction is not underway on the new School of Public Policy building at the University of Maryland, College Park.

Executive architect Leo A Daly was selected for this approximately $45 million project in 2016 after a competitive, multi-phased Design Excellence procurement process. This a Construction Management at Risk (CM&R) project with bids slated to go out next year.

“The new School of Public Policy is a highly-visible symbol of the University of Maryland’s dedication to serving the public good, not only in developing the policymakers of tomorrow, but in expanding the policy conversation to the greater university and the world beyond it,” said Irena Savakova, RIBA, principal in charge for the project with Leo A Daly. “This new building will have a transformative effect on the university, establishing a unique platform for collaboration and public discourse woven thoughtfully into the fabric of campus,”

Slated for completion in 2022, the four-story building will bring together the school’s 90-plus faculty members and more than 1,000 undergraduates and graduate students under one roof for the first time. It will also be the headquarters for the Do Good Institute, a campus-wide hub for social innovation, philanthropy and nonprofit leadership. Five state-of-the-art instructional spaces ranging in size from 25 to 150 seats, a library and a rooftop terrace are also included.

“The School of Public Policy is a home for those committed to serving the public good, and who go out and do good in the world every day,” said Robert C. Orr, dean of the School of Public Policy, in a statement.

According to the university’s 2019 enrollment report, 219 undergrads and 248 master’s students are currently enrolled in the school. During the last school year, 16 undergrads and 112 master’s students received a degree. The School of Public Policy has experienced steady growth since starting in 2017 while being housed at the Van Munching Hall, the home of the university’s Robert H. Smith School of Business.

Entrances on the east and west connect within a large, communal atrium have been designed to encourage chance meetings, informal study and interdepartmental collaboration. Academic space is tied together visually and programmatically, creating a series of adaptable, flexible learning environments. Do Good Plaza, a shared outdoor event space on the building’s east side, embraces the neighboring Purple Line station, establishing a welcoming new gateway into campus.

“This new building will accommodate the school’s rapid growth in students headed for public policy leadership in the national, international, nonprofit and philanthropic sectors,” said University of Maryland President Wallace D. Loh, in a statement. “Along with its unique curriculum, research leadership, and proximity to the nation’s capital, this building will help propel the school to become one of the very best in the country.”

The architecture blends contemporary expressions of transparency and openness with materials and rhythmic elements found in the adjacent Georgian-inspired campus buildings. The building’s carefully sculpted massing frames views of two historic buildings—Rossborough Inn to the northeast and Memorial Chapel to the southwest.

The sustainably designed building is expected to achieve a LEED Gold rating, with biophilic design elements that will connect occupants to nature, reduce the building’s environmental footprint, and provide healthy and productive spaces for work and study.

The post Construction Begins on Maryland School of Public Policy appeared first on School Construction News.

BALTIMORE — The University of Maryland-Baltimore’s Health Sciences Research Facility (HSRF) III, is not only the biggest building in the University System of Maryland, but its workmanship and high sustainability standards recently earned it a coveted Gold LEED Award from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC).

The USGBC noted LEED elements such as the 439,000-square-foot School of Medicine (SOM) structure’s green roof and sustainable features including a cistern water collection system, recycled content, indoor environmental quality, and energy recovery systems.

Unlike any other building at the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB), HSRF III boasts chilled beam technology, significantly reducing the amount of air changes per hour, plus the collection and storage of rainwater for use as make-up water for the rooftop cooling towers, which reduces the use of domestic water.

HSRF III has viewing corridors that allow daylight to penetrate the building through both its 10-story wet lab tower and its five-story dry lab tower — spaces where more than 400 personnel will be housed and generate an additional $107 million in annual research funding.

“The thinking in the older buildings was that windows took up wall space that could be used for shelves,” said Ron Brown, PE, LEED AP, director of capital projects at UMB. But then Health Sciences Research Facility I and MBI (currently the SOM’s Institute of Human Virology), two buildings built in the early 1990s, “brought in natural light and are, in my opinion, much more inviting spaces,” said Brown.

In addition, HSRF III’s proximity to garages, public transportation, and other schools makes it carbon-friendly, as do 47 secure bike storage spaces as well as shower facilities, for those who like to pedal to work. The building also offers 23,621 square feet of vegetated open space, and the planting of native and adaptive plants that can grow without additional irrigation allows for 100 percent reduction in water use.

HSRF III achieved a 22 percent energy cost reduction and a 32 percent water reduction thanks to things like high-performance glazing on the south façade, natural ventilation, high-efficiency flush fixtures, and low-flow sinks. Twenty percent of the project materials were extracted and manufactured within 500 miles of site, supporting local industry and reducing carbon emissions from transport. And 100 percent of low-VOC (volatile organic compound) adhesives, paints, flooring, and composite wood were used to limit occupant exposure to concentrated carcinogens.

H. Jorge Scotti, AIA, LEED BD+C, senior architectural and engineering project manager at UMB, was part of the project from the beginning, sitting in on HSRF III’s initial planning session in June 2012. He said various sustainable elements in HSRF III stand out to him. Among them: low operating cost, focus on user experience, and site design. Daylight was a high priority. Every lab and office space intended for continuous occupancy, except for a few spaces where the user requested otherwise, was designed with window access to daylight, either to the exterior or to the atrium and its skylights.

Brown credits the group effort, citing his team members Scotti, Drew Moore, Jeff Crabtree, Rob Cook, Jody Latimer, the design team, HOK and its consultants, including Affiliated Engineers, Inc., and the construction manager, Barton Malow Co. Plus contributors from all across UMB.

“It can be challenging to get buy-in from an entire cross-section of the University for new technologies and standards on such a large and important facility,” said Brown. “The risk-free approach would be to do what we have done before, but everyone worked together to achieve the goal of reducing energy use and so much more.”

The post University of Maryland Research Facility Gains LEED Gold appeared first on School Construction News.