Mechanical Hall renovation wins design awards

1:26 p.m., Sept. 24, 2004--The renovation of Mechanical Hall has garnered architectural awards from the Baltimore and Maryland chapters of the American Institute of Architects.

Ziger/Snead LLP Architects of Baltimore won the design awards for revamping a 19th-Century classroom building into a 21st-Century art gallery that now houses the Paul R. Jones Collection of African American Art.

The outside of the building is largely unchanged except for a dramatic entrance foyer. Inside, Ziger/Snead’s renovation mingles the original brickwork and wooden posts with soaring expanses of white walls suitable for hanging one of the most complete holdings of African American art in the world.

The building, on the National Register of Historic Places, changed as the University did, becoming, in turns, a classroom building, an engineering building, the groundskeeper’s headquarters, an athletic training center, a military installation during World War II, a residence hall for veterans returning to college after the war and an Army ROTC training center.

Article by Kathy Canavan
Photo by Kathy Atkinson

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