Knight Hall is the 53,000 SF home for the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University
of Maryland. The building was designed to be "Of its Time and Of its Place": the building blends with the context of its site within a traditional campus, yet also communicates a message of an institution at the forefront of the journalism profession in the 21st Century.
Knight Hall provides a balance of instructional spaces, faculty offices and professional outreach centers organized around a daylit, two-story Great Hall public space. Instructional spaces include four news labs, two seminar rooms, a 70-seat broadcast
theater, a multi-functional studio/editing lab and a 24/7 multi-media open lab space. The third-floor houses professional training centers which are epicenters of media study and national advocacy. A variety of public spaces encourage frequent interactions between students, faculty and journalism professionals.
Throughout the building, Knight Hall demonstrates transparency as one of the core fundamentals of journalism by offering views into spaces and revealing and sharing their various functions.
The building responds to the University’s masterplan by holding the edges of its corner site and
creating a courtyard space adjacent to the Great Hall. The interior public
spaces become the campus conduit that connects the adjacent parking to the campus core, where visitors can get the news of the day as they make their way on campus.
Built on a former parking lot, Knight Hall embodies the University’s commitment to sustainability by
becoming the campus’ first University-owned LEED building, receiving LEED Gold certification. Daylighting and exterior views are provided to nearly all occupied spaces, reinforcing the design principle of transparency.
View Original