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November 18, 2008, 10:15 AM ET
After 2-Month Contest, German Firm Wins U. of Baltimore Law-School Competition
This design from Behnisch Architekten won the U. of Baltimore’s competition for a new law-school building. (U. of Baltimore image)
After a high-profile competition involving the likes of Foster + Partners and Moshe Safdie and Associates, the University of Baltimore announced Monday that it had chosen the German architecture firm Behnisch Architekten to design a $107-million law-school building for a prominent downtown site. The firm will work with Ayers Saint Gross, the Baltimore architecture and planning practice, on the 190,000-square-foot project.
The winning concept, according to the Baltimore Sun, is “a 12-story, glass-clad building with interlocking elements that correspond to different interior spaces and fit together like a three-dimensional jigsaw puzzle.” The university’s president, Robert L. Bogomolny, made a point of noting that Behnisch Architekten is known for designing sustainable buildings. Adam Gross, of Ayers Saint Gross, told The Sun, “These guys are light-years ahead of the U.S. in terms of sustainability.”
The two-month competition, which cost $150,000, was paid for by a local foundation eager to attract top-notch designers to the project, which is to be built opposite Pennsylvania Station at the intersection of North Charles Street and the Jones Falls Expressway. It will be just a block away from the university’s striking 2006 Student Center, designed by the Baltimore firm Murphy & Dittenhafer, and just two exits from the Maryland Institute College of Art’s new Gateway residence hall, by RTKL Associates, and the art college’s 2004 Brown Center, by Charles Brickbauer.
The second-place finishers in the competition were Dominique Perrault Architecture, of Paris, in association with Ziger/Snead Architects, of Baltimore. Other participants were Foster + Partners, of London, in association with Cho Benn Holback + Associates, of Baltimore; Moshe Safdie and Associates, of Somerset, Mass., in association with Hord/Coplan/Macht of Baltimore; and SmithGroup, of Washington.
Peter Angelos, the lawyer who owns the Baltimore Orioles, has given the law school $5-million toward the cost of the building, which will be named for his parents, John and Frances Angelos.
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