STATUS
IN CONSTRUCTION
Johns Hopkins Student Center
BALTIMORE, UNITED STATESCLIENT
Johns Hopkins University
TYPOLOGY
Education
SIZE M2/FT2
13,935 / 150,000
SHARE
The Hopkins Student Center will form a new social engagement hub for all members of the Johns Hopkins University community. The 143,000 sq ft building includes spaces for relaxation and socializing, student resources and support, a digital media center, performance space with seating for 200 people, and a dining hall.
Located at the intersection of 33rd and Charles Streets, the Hopkins Student Center will foster greater connectivity between the campus and the neighboring community by creating a prominent point of entry. As a natural gateway, the area will connect Charles Village and the 3,500+ Johns Hopkins students who live in the neighborhood to the heart of the Homewood campus.
EXISTING SITE
— The site is located on the hill of the Grove, next to the existing Homewood campus Beach at the main gateway between the City and the Campus.
INDOOR LANDSCAPE
— The indoor landscape - as vast as the 'Beach' next door - negotiates the grade of the site to allow direct entry from all four levels, while maintaining a friendly human scale.
GATHERING SPACES
— A true Village of student life, the student center is comprised of an array of spaces, including art studios, a music rehearsal room, a state-of-the-art performance space, job fairs, and a student engagement hub.
SITE CONNECTIONS
— The building is rotated to align with the historic Merrick Barn next door and improve site connectivity for greater pedestrian flows.
CAMPUS LIVING ROOM
— All spaces connect back to the Campus Living Room, an inclusive melting pot for student life, and a crossroad for campus connectivity.
PROGRAM DISPLAY
— The porosity and transparency of the student center places its activities and school spirit on display, expressing an ever-changing mosaic of the student body.
THE VILLAGE
— The Village is a vision for the new Hopkins Student Center, a physical expression of the student body diversity, and a welcoming new beacon for both Campus and Community.
The Hopkins Student Center is conceived as a central living room – a dynamic hub – surrounded by a collection of spaces tailored to the needs of the Hopkins community. The building negotiates the sloping grade of the site to allow direct entry from all four levels of the building, while maintaining a human scale and providing several accessible routes across the site. Arriving on Charles Street, students and visitors are greeted by an open building façade with dining areas spilling out onto a plaza.
The mass timber structure provides a warm and acoustically comfortable environment as light filters in through clerestory glazed windows. A circular staircase allows for a continuous connection to the building’s perimeter under 29 cantilevered roof planes, which provide shading for the building. The roofs are covered in photovoltaic panels that generate up to 40% of the building’s yearly energy consumption – a design strategy that contribute to the University’s larger sustainability goals, including LEED Platinum Certification.
The design transforms the landscape around the building to create outdoor spaces for student activities and events. A central plaza can host pop-up exhibits or performances, as well as vendors and food trucks to enliven the North Charles Street corridor.
Bjarke Ingels Leon Rost Agne Rapkeviciute Andres Romero Jason Wu Corliss Ng Elizabeth Mcdonald Florencia Kratsman Guillaume Evain Jamie Maslyn Larson Jan Leenknegt Ken Chongsuwat Kevin Pham Margaret Tyrpa Oliver Thomas Kig Veerasunthorn Terrence Chew Tracy Sodder Veronica Watson Xi Zhang Alex Wu Emily Chen Chia-Yu Liu Lawrence-Olivier Mahadoo Tony-Saba Shiber Bryan Hardin Christopher Pin Deb Campbell Gabriel Jewell-Vitale Jialin Yuan Alexander Jacobson Ema Hristova Bakalova Frederic Lucien Engasser Jakub Kulisa Jesper Kanstrup Petersen Kaoan Hengles De Lima Mengzhu Jiang Tore Banke Tom Lasbrey Benjamin Caldwell Josiah Poland Mike Munoz Mike Munoz Juan Diego Perez Diez Alan Maedo Ryan Henriksen Luca McLaughlin Cynthia Wang Alejandro Guadarrama Matthew Lau
AWARDS
WBC Craftsmanship Award, 2025
COLLABORATORS
Clark Construction
Lindner
StructureCraft
Shepley Bulfinch
Rockwell Group
MVVA
WSP-NYC
WRA
Knippers Helbig
Charcoal Blue
L’Observatoire
Point of Reference Studio/POR
Thornton Tomasetti
Acentech
Ricca
Code Red
Lerch Bates
WJE
Campbell-McCabe
Kalin Associates
Squint/Opera
