The University of Baltimore is constructing a new building for the School of Law—the new John and Frances Angelos Law Center. The facility, slated for construction beginning in August 2010 on a UB-owned parcel at the intersection of Charles Street and Mt. Royal Avenue and projected to open in early 2013, will be a transformative building for the UB campus and an architectural landmark for central Baltimore. It will receive both public and private support.
The University of Baltimore School of Law is the sixth-largest public law school in the country. Its enrollment has increased by 20 percent since the current building was constructed in 1982, and faculty and staff have more than doubled, reflecting the changing nature of legal education.
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Project Funding
On June 25, 2008, the University announced the largest private gift in its history—a $5 million donation from UB School of Law alumnus Peter Angelos, LL.B. '61. The dollar-for-dollar matching pledge will be used to support construction of the building, projected at $107 million. It will retain the name of the existing facility, the John and Frances Angelos Law Center, which was named after Angelos's parents as part of an earlier gift in 1991. Two years later, on June 3, 2010, the announcement of a second $5 million donation by Angelos marked UB's achievement of its goal of $15 million in private funding for the building. The remaining funds will be provided by the state. -
Project Design
UB President Robert L. Bogomolny called for a pathbreaking building that will provide a strong foundation for those activities that are central to the School of Law's mission: community involvement, public interest, diversity.
"As an educational institution, we envision a building whose design teaches critical lessons about how to create and sustain healthy urban environments," Bogomolny said. "As an institution committed to excellence, we envision a signature building whose materials reflect the quality of our aspirations."
In support of these requirements, the Abell Foundation funded a $150,000 design competition for the new facility, a move that brought national and international interest to the project. On Nov. 17, 2008, UB announced that Behnisch Architekten of Stuttgart, Germany, in partnership with Baltimore's Ayers/Saint/Gross, Inc., won the international competition to design the new John and Frances Angelos Law Center at UB.
Of the winning design, Bogomolny said, "Stefan Behnisch has articulated an initial concept for our new law center that is truly forward-thinking. Stefan's ideas about sustainable design and his creativity in responding to the evolving needs of higher education place him in the forefront of 21st-century architecture."
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Timeline
The project's timeline is as follows:
- Contract awarded to architect - January to February 2009
- Design phase; selection of contractor - February 2009 to May 2010
- Construction - June 2010 to late 2012
- Opening - Spring 2013 -
School of Law Background
The University of Baltimore School of Law produces many of Maryland's leading lights throughout the legal community—practitioners, judges, public defenders, prosecutors, scholars, and community and civic advocates. Alumni account for 30 percent of Maryland's circuit court judges, 34 percent of Maryland's district court judges and more than one-third of Maryland's elected state's attorneys.
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Facts About the Center
- 190,000 square feet of new construction
- 12 stories
- Central atrium featuring natural light, greenery, zones for quiet contemplation and group interaction
- 300-seat moot courtroom and event space
- 15 classrooms, all with advanced technology
- 29 large- and small-group study spaces
- Home to all of UB's clinical services and law-related centers
- 32,000 square-foot library
- Cutting-edge technologies for heating and cooling
- Rainwater capture and re-use
- 1,231 jobs, generating more than $174 million in economic activity
- Scheduled completion in late 2012; occupancy in spring 2013
- commitment to recycle at least 50 percent of construction materials and to use at least 10 percent recycled materials in the building -
A Commitment to Green
The new John and Frances Angelos Law Center is destined to be one of the greenest buildings in Baltimore and the metropolitan region. It will feature innovative air handling systems, the active capture of light and water that would otherwise go to waste and the use of recycled materials throughout the construction phase. Current plans call for a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design rating of gold; efforts are underway to push the rating to platinum—which would make UB's one of the first law schools in the country to have this status. The building's LEED rating will be determined by the U.S. Green Building Council, which will validate the innovative and environmentally aware techniques and materials used to create the new law center.
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The Build Up: A Newsletter on Law Center Construction
UB has launched The Build Up, an electronic newsletter covering the construction of the Angelos Law Center. Check it out.
The University of Baltimore School of Law: A Vision for the Future (pdf)
Message from the President (pdf)