- October 10, 2014
Towson University opens new Academic Center at Harford Community College
More than 300 community leaders, college officials and guests came out Friday to celebrate the official opening of Towson University’s new Academic Center at Harford Community College (HCC). Designed by Princeton, NJ-based based ikon.5 architects, the 55,000 square foot three-story building, to be known as Towson University in Northeast Maryland, provides a 2+2 education for Harford students, allowing them to complete a four-year Towson University degree on Harford’s campus. . Programs of study offered at the new facility include business administration, elementary education, nursing, family & human services, information technology, psychology, sociology, and criminal justice. And more are expected to be added.
The facility is conceived as a ‘campus within a campus’. “We wanted to give this new partnership between Towson and Harford Community College a distinct identity and yet seamlessly blend with the buildings on Harford’s campus, said Joseph G. Tattoni, AIA design lead for the project and principal at ikon.5 architects. “We also wanted to site the building in a way that would acknowledge its importance as the first of a future Towson campus expected to evolve on Harford’s grounds”.
Built of steel and concrete and clad in terra cotta colored cement board, the materials of the Academic Center reference Towson’s main campus and complement the mostly red-brick buildings at HCC while introducing a wholly new material palette to the campus. Sited at the top of a sloping meadow, the buildings splayed form is intended as a ‘welcoming gesture of embrace’, opening onto and looking forward to the development of a future campus down slope. .The new facility houses classrooms, seminar rooms, group learning areas and a campus store on the first level. On the second level are classrooms, faculty offices, conference rooms and collaborative learning spaces. The two ‘arms’ or wings of the building are connected by a sky bridge at the second level. Between the arms is an outdoor terrace and green roof that overlooks the future campus.
The new Academic Center is “one of the most anticipated projects in the nearly 150 years of Towson University,” said Timothy Chandler, acting president of Towson University. “It is hard to express just how important this facility is to our community and to our students, said Harford Community College’s President Dennis Golladay.
About ikon.5 architects
Formed in 2003 and located in Princeton, NJ, ikon.5 architects is a broad-based practice in architecture, planning, landscape and interior design with a portfolio of projects serving higher education, non-profit organizations, cultural institutions and business global business corporations. A national practice, the firm has been recognized with more than 50 international, national and state design awards for creative solutions that contribute to the enrichment of the built environment.
About Towson University
Founded in 1866, Towson University is recognized as one of the nation's best regional public universities, offering more than 100 bachelor's, master's and doctoral degree programs in the liberal arts and sciences, and applied professional field With nearly 22,000 students, Towson is among the largest public universities in Maryland.