Educational facility designs that combine historical inspiration with modern approaches.

by Irena Savakova and Anya Grant

The University of Maryland’s School of Public Policy seeks to make a difference. It prepares future policy leaders for the challenges they will face.

A key part of students’ education is connecting to others, whether they are peers, professors, practitioners or campus visitors. So school leaders wanted its home to offer spaces for all its users to connect, formally and informally.

The 70,000-square-foot Thurgood Marshall Hall, opened in 2022 on the university’s College Park campus, is designed to elevate that discourse. Named in honor of the first Black justice on the U.S. Supreme Court, the building functions as the nerve center of education and discourse for the public good on campus. It also stands at the heart of a new entrance to campus, serving as a welcoming gateway for students and visitors.

Collaborating with the school to understand its programmatic needs, the design team increased the school’s formal and informal collaboration spaces by 34%, boosted event seating capacity by 72% and facilitated an exponential increase in event capacity through simulcasting capabilities. Since it has opened, most of the faculty, staff and students have indicated that the new building supports their preferred modes of learning, working and convening.

The design elevates connectivity throughout the building. Key strategies that informed the process:
• Marrying historical inspiration with modern technology to create an array of options for connection.
• Rethinking traditional functionality to ensure flexible discussion spaces.
• Creatively blending the outdoors and indoors to maximize engagement.

Overcoming limitations

The design process began with an out-of-date budget. Funding for the building was based on a decade-old study. The budget fell short by 20% of meeting the university’s needs, but no more funding was available.

Within these constraints, the university still needed an educational facility that could support policy education for a generation of students motivated to not just study the issues but to solve them. The building needed to support and empower students to engage with faculty, exchange ideas and learn about public policy.

Designers and university stakeholders had to collaborate to reimagine academic spaces and creatively fill programmatic needs within the established budget. What was originally understood as a space deficit evolved into a design challenge and led to the creation of a connective network of multifunctional spaces that provide opportunities for cross-pollination, discourse, and convening.

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

Modern spaces rooted in antiquity

As long as civilization has existed, people have needed a place to gather. The ancient Greek agora was a public space that served as a meeting ground for all kinds of discourse and connection.

Approaching a building intended to house public discourse and learning, the design team drew inspiration from ancient Athens. The spatial typology of the agora presented the exact model that the School of Public Policy needed. The building includes an internal, multi-height, cascading plaza bookended by two main entries. Many brightly lighted overflow spaces – from intimate perches to generous technology-enabled alcoves – enable students and faculty to convene.

The design marries tested strategies for creating spaces conducive to user productivity with technology that meets the demands of today’s sustainability and technology. A high-performance, light-diffusing insulated glazing system on the east and west sides of the building provides precise shading and well-tempered environments. The large lecture hall was designed with generous openings and automated shading so that it can be filled with daylight during normal operation, but also tightly calibrated for large events requiring screen projections or television broadcasting.

A 46-seat classroom modeled on the United Nations deliberative chamber has fixed tables and chairs, precisely laid out to accommodate simultaneous small-group breakouts while also being wired for videoconferencing at every seat with tracking cameras that enable an entire class to connect with other students, speakers and policy leaders from across the world.

The agora-inspired connector segment offers capabilities to connect beyond what the ancient Greeks could have imagined.

This principle can be applied across higher education institutions, on campuses where legacy historic buildings must embrace modern modes of learning and support evolving modes of connection – many technology-enabled. As an example, the Corcoran School of Arts and Design at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., acquired and adapted a historic building. The reuse of this facility enables the space to blend historical elements such as extensive skylights above expansive ornate galleries with intimate classroom and laboratory spaces designed to inspire the next generation of artists and designers.

Rethinking functionality

In lieu of a traditional library at Thurgood Marshall Hall, the design team created a reading room that can be used for quiet study as well as events. The room has multiple configurations with the use of one folding glass partition that defines a small seminar or small-group meeting space on one end of the larger room, and another partition at the opposite end that opens to an outdoor roof terrace. When combined, this suite of indoor and outdoor spaces has become one of the most popular event spaces on campus.

Functionality does not need to come at the expense of people-focused yet visionary design. At the Intelligence Community Campus in Bethesda, Maryland, a teaching academy for many U.S. agencies that deal with top secret information, the building design does not reflect that secretive focus. The facility has been conceived to look more like a museum integrated into its landscape with outdoor gathering spaces.

Blending indoor and outdoor

The quad is a staple of higher education for a reason. Outdoor spaces and biophilic elements encourage casual conversations and spark creativity. Thurgood Marshall Hall capitalizes on this, enabling visitors to flow between indoor and outdoor, and to experience the outdoors even when inside.

The space includes several courtyard experiences. On the building’s top floor, the reading room and rooftop terrace connect indoor and outdoor spaces, offering panoramic views of the university's 1,340-acre campus. It also serves as a community meeting space, cementing “town and gown” connections.

Material selections support biophilic design to connect occupants to nature, while reducing the building’s environmental footprint and providing healthful and productive spaces for work and study. Around the building, thoughtfully landscaped areas form pockets for gathering, study and social activity.

Another way to incorporate the outdoors in learning spaces can be seen at the University of California Merced’s Science and Engineering building, completed in the mid-2000s. A green space serves as a connector between two buildings, giving students and others an opportunity to benefit from natural elements.

Key takeaways

Thurgood Marshall Hall has become popular on the University of Maryland campus and in the community. It reflects the university’s dedication to reimagining learning—a commitment deeply woven into its strategic plan. The popularity of the building is proof that a tight budget can still result in a state-of-the-art educational facility that elevates discourse and connects students, staff and community. For years to come, Maryland’s future leaders will be convening in these spaces.

Irena Savakova, RIBA, LEED AP BD+C, is a global design principal at LEO A DALY with more than 30 years of experience developing commercial and educational facilities.

Anya Grant, AIA, is the education market sector leader for LEO A DALY’s Washington, D.C., studio. Her career has encompassed programming, planning and design for higher education facilities, including residence halls and student centers.