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An old alliance between the architectural firm RTKL and the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) recently impacted the young designers of the multinational firm. In the early 1990s, RTKL designed a visiting artist’s sculpting studio on MICA’s campus—so when the board of MICA decided a new dormitory was necessary, they approached the firm that had assisted them years ago. RTKL chairman Paul Jacob, AIA, describes the timing of MICA’s request as serendipitous. “Every year we hold a companywide design conference for selected young employees to foster a culture of collaboration while creating a dialogue on design,” he explains. “For the conference in October, we used the competition’s process as this year’s topic.”

previous image | next image   While the London office’s entry, consisting of a circular structure with an enclosed courtyard, was the unanimous winner, the jury agreed that every entry, like those from Madrid and Baltimore, had innovative elements. All images courtesy RTKL.

Seven of RTKL’s offices chose the young designers who would work on the creation of the new dormitory, whose program would also include a black-box performance space, a campus café, meeting facilities, and a career development center. While young designers spearheaded and ultimately presented the projects, entire offices would collaborate on the “after work hours” project.

After the allotted two months, the designers presented their schemes to a panel of jurors at MICA’s Brown Center. Jacob says, “We were absolutely blown away by the results.” However, it was the London-office entry, led by Grant Armstrong and Christy Wright, that was overwhelmingly chosen as the winning proposal. “There is a certain playfulness to the design that successfully resolves a lot of problems in a tight site,” comments Jacob. The circular design comprises three residential “pods” that are anchored by a vertical spine
of studio spaces. The scheme, including the ground-level glass-walled public spaces, breaks up the scale of the building and also acts as a gateway to the campus.

The members of the jury were not the only group enthusiastic about the work of the London team: MICA’s board of trustees and members of the local community approved of the complex design. Currently, Armstrong, Wright, and the Baltimore-based office of RTKL are finalizing the design and setting up time lines that will have this project completed in the fall of 2007. Randi Greenberg

By Randi Greenberg

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