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One of the latest campus buildings, the Calvin and Tina Tyler Hall Student Services Center at Morgan State University (MSU) in Baltimore, Maryland, epitomizes the synthesis of neoclassical and modern architecture with Canadian Eramosa limestone, sourced from northern Ontario.
MSU is a leading historically Black institution and Maryland’s largest, offering a wide range of undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral programs since its founding in 1867. Designated a national treasure in 2016 by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, MSU’s campus seamlessly blends its academic quad with modern buildings. The new student services centre achieves assimilation in the historic campus by using a limestone which coordinates with the Maryland fieldstone.
Toronto-based Teeple Architects, in collaboration with the Baltimore-based GWWO Architects, designed the Calvin and Tina Tyler Hall Student Services Center to unify dispersed administrative and student services, enhancing the overall student experience and affirming MSU’s position as a premier public university. the student centre is designed to serve as a welcoming entry point and iconic “front-door” to the university.
Much care was given by the architectural team to finding a limestone that would blend with the palette of Maryland fieldstone found on the older adjacent buildings in the quad, while allowing for a more contemporary architectural expression desired by the university.
The design involved a 50.8-mm (2-in.)-thick stone veneer precast panel system. Each stone joint was carefully considered and mapped across the entire facade using a set of alignment rules. The stone cladding is accented with sharp turns of prismatic metal that subtly shifts between rich copper and orange hues depending on the weather, the time of day, and the viewing angle. The monumental and almost stolid presence of the limestone is broken not only by the play of light, but also by the use of expressive glazing that cuts through.
The campus building boasts a spacious arrival court adorned with landscaping, guiding students and visitors to the street-level entrance. Grand stairs, both inside and outside, create a formal path leading to the campus commons-level. The ground floor, partially embedded into the hillside, uses terraced rain gardens and bio-retention features to meet Baltimore’s stormwater management standards.
Inside, the student centre houses departmental reception areas and service desks, organized along flowing, multistorey lounges with ample seating, study areas, and collaboration spaces. A monumental stairway with gently curved landings and a continuous wood soffit serves as the connective element between three levels of public lobbies and lounges, leading to various student-facing departments and concluding with a sizable student services counter.
The third floor features a spacious landscaped terrace planted with tall grasses and native pollinator species, including Maryland’s state flower, the black-eyed Susan. This terrace, suitable for small events and gatherings, offers a panoramic view of the academic quad, centred on historic Holmes Hall.
