BIG selected to design new Student Center for Johns Hopkins University

BIG has been selected by Johns Hopkins University to design the Hopkins Student Center, or ‘The Village.’ The project will be an open, modern, welcoming facility that will act as a social engagement hub for all members of the Hopkins community.

The 150,000-sf building will include spaces for relaxation and socialization, creative and performing arts spaces, student resources and support spaces, lounges, a digital media center, a performance space with seating for 200 people, and a dining hall that connects directly to a new plaza along Charles Street.

The Village will be strategically located on campus at the intersection of 33rd and Charles Streets and is conceived as a central living room surrounded by a collection of spaces tailored to the needs of the Hopkins community. It will turn the area into a hub that acts as a natural gateway connecting Charles Village and more than 3,500 Hopkins students who live in the neighborhood, to the heart of the Homewood campus. 

Upon entering The Village, visitors will be met with a cascading interior landscape of dining, performance, lounging, and socializing. The mass timber structure will provide a warm and acoustically comfortable environment filled with natural light that filters between photovoltaic roof panels. 

The interior landscape comprises a cluster of flexible spaces that open out on to four rejuvenated public spaces: an events-focused commons, the shaded paths of the Grove, an entry plaza at 33rd Street, and a new food market and plaza to the south. A new central plaza will also be included that can host pop-up exhibits or performances, vendors, and food trucks.

The Hopkins Student Center is set to begin construction in spring 2022 and is slated for completion by fall 2024. BIG is teaming with Shepley Bulfinch (Architect of Record), Rockwell Group (interior design), and Michael Van Valkenburg Associates (landscape design) on the project.