Construction is underway at
Morgan State University's $59 million architecture school, slated to open August 2012.
The Center for the Built Environment and Infrastructure Studies will bring Morgan's architecture, city and regional planning, construction management, and landscape architecture schools under one roof.
The center, expected to receive a silver or gold LEED certification, will also house research on green building technology, says MaryAnne Akers, dean of the school of architecture and planning. Researchers at the center will hopefully create and invent technology that help buildings use less energy. Kiosks will inform visitors to the center how much energy the building is saving.
"It will bring us more visibility for the architecture program," Akers says of the center.
The building, which broke ground last year, will be home to the school's civil engineering and transportation programs as well. The 126,000-square-foot school will contain four classrooms, 100 offices, conference rooms, an atrium with skylights, a green roof and 300 parking spaces.
The historically black college offers one of two architecture programs in the state. The other is offered at the University of Maryland College Park.
Writer: Julekha Dash
Source: MaryAnne Akers, Morgan State