Danish architecture firm BIG and New York-based interior design studio Rockwell Group have completed the Bloomberg Student Center at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. The innovative 150,000-square-foot facility represents the university's first building dedicated exclusively to student life and features a distinctive design composed of clustered mass timber volumes that cascade up the building's sloped site.
Located on the edge of Johns Hopkins' Homewood campus, the student center was conceived as what BIG founder Bjarke Ingels describes as a "village of timber pavilions climbing the natural hill on the university's edge." The building consolidates student activities that were previously scattered across campus into one central hub. The structure consists of 29 rectangular mass timber pavilions stacked in various configurations, each enclosed in glass and topped with flat roofs equipped with nearly 1,000 photovoltaic panels that generate approximately half of the building's electricity needs.
The building's sustainable design aims for LEED Platinum certification through multiple environmental features. Large solar panels crown each volume, while the facility incorporates a 20,000-gallon underground rainwater cistern for water management. Double-glazed windows and radiant floor heating help minimize energy loss throughout the four-story structure, which is carved into a 30-foot sloped site.
The interior design centers around a dramatic multi-level central atrium that varies in height according to the building's cascading volumes. Multiple entrances on different sides of the building lead into this central space, with the main entrance and outdoor plaza positioned at the lowest level along Charles Street. A grand staircase winds through the atrium, lined with comfortable lounge areas that encourage student interaction and collaboration.
The building's base level houses a comprehensive food hall, café, and restaurant, providing diverse dining options for the university community. Higher floors contain a 250-seat performance theater and various specialized spaces including meeting rooms, dance studios, and club meeting areas. These programmatic elements are distributed throughout the individual timber pavilions that ascend the sloped site, creating intimate spaces within the larger complex.
Rockwell Group's interior design celebrates the exposed mass timber structure, featuring acoustic dowel-laminated timber ceilings, beams, and columns throughout. The design team selected complementary materials including limestone and white oak millwork to enhance the warm, natural aesthetic. "We were inspired by the building's timber structure and column grid to organize a dynamic interior where natural materials, warm tones, and layered lighting create a sense of cohesion across a lot of different programmatic areas," explained Rockwell Group founder David Rockwell.
The building's exterior integrates seamlessly with its campus setting through carefully designed outdoor spaces. Patios and small landscaped gardens surround the structure, connecting it to the adjacent student quad at the site's highest point. This thoughtful site planning creates a natural flow between indoor and outdoor student activities while respecting the campus's existing character.
The Bloomberg Student Center represents a significant addition to Johns Hopkins University's facilities and demonstrates both firms' commitment to sustainable, student-centered design. The project involved an extensive team of consultants including landscape architect Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, structural engineer Knippers Helbig, and construction manager Clark Construction Group. This collaboration between BIG and Rockwell Group continues their respective track records in educational architecture, with BIG having recently completed an academic building at Claremont McKenna College in Los Angeles and Rockwell Group previously working with Ennead Architects on another Johns Hopkins campus renovation project.
