SCUP/AIA-CAE Excellence in Architecture for Restoration or Preservation,
Honor Award

photo by Peter Mauss / Esto

Photo by Peter Mauss / Esto

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This project transformed 95-year-old Gilman Hall, iconic center of the Johns Hopkins University campus, into a modern, environmentally sustainable facility for the Krieger School of Arts & Sciences.

Originally designed to integrate the library, seminar rooms, and department offices under one roof, a new library built in 1964 left Gilman with abandoned empty stacks and an open lightwell. By 2006, the building was in terrible condition.

The renovation transformed the central light well into a covered atrium, replaced 25,000sf of library stacks with usable academic space so all 10 humanities departments could be reassembled in one place, and adds 14,000sf of museum and lecture halls.

The jury said, “ . . . a very successful transformation of life in that part of the campus . . . became the new social hub . . . great place to be in as a student or faculty member . . . can’t imagine doing any better . . . very nicely done . . .”

The key to success was rethinking how the humanities at Hopkins could be grouped, so faculty and students could share ideas in an integrated environment. The project was originally conceived as a systems update in a phased renovation, but realizing this was a once in a 100-year opportunity, the university resolved to do the job right.

“The renewed vision for Gilman Hall honors the past while making possible collaborative, interdisciplinary and technologically sophisticated work that is the hallmark of modern scholarship in the humanities,” says Jim Miller, university architect, design & construction, Johns Hopkins University.

The glass-roofed atrium commons was not in the original program, but it is the social and academic core of the building. The lesson learned is the importance going beyond immediate program needs to see each building in a larger academic context, and provide what was missing from the whole.

Gilman is on track to receive LEED Gold certification with efficient energy systems and a healthy indoor environment. The university expects building energy costs will be reduced by about 25%.

Project Team: Johns Hopkins University with Kliment Halsband Architects; also Robert Silman Associates; James Posey Associates; Mahan Rykiel Associates; Tillotson Design Associates; Schlaich Bergermann and Partner