© Albert Vecerka

Rogers Partners’ Elmer A. Henderson: A John Hopkins Partnership School (Henderson-Hopkins) has received the 2016 American Institute of Architects (AIA) Institute Honour Award for Architecture, as well as the 2016 American Institute of Architects Committee on Architecture for Education (AIA-CAE) Educational Facility Design Award of Excellence.

The project is a $42 million, 125,000 square foot public school located in East-Baltimore. Lauded by AIA Jurors as being “exuberant” and “optimistic,” as well as containing “welcoming indoor and outdoor spaces” that are “deftly woven into the neighborhood” and “well received by the community,” Henderson-Hopkins is the city’s first new public school in over 30 years.

© Albert Vecerka

Unlike the typical single-building model of a school, Henderson-Hopkins is a cluster of smaller buildings, mirroring the row houses, stoops and social civic spaces of Baltimore’s urban fabric. Students are grouped by age in these buildings, bisected by main and side streets. Each building has its own common areas, flexible teaching areas and an outdoor “learning terrace”, decentralizing education to promote individual learning.

Courtesy of ROGERS PARTNERS

“We are honored to be recognized in this way by the AIA at the National Convention. This project represents what architecture for education can really be about: enabling students, teachers and community. Our goal was to recover and reimagine an urban fabric rich in opportunity and optimism for East Baltimore,” says Robert M. Rogers, FAIA, Founding Partner of Rogers Partners.  “In its intentionally porous, safe, urban plan and through the craftsmanship of light, materiality and performance, the design respects history and supports the future of education and of this neighborhood.” 

© Albert Vecerka

The project was the result of a competition sponsored by East Baltimore Development, Inc. It is one of the forerunners of a trend of more open, civically engaging schools, being promoted by Baltimore’s Urban Design & Architecture Review Panel.

© Albert Vecerka

Since its completion in 2014, the project has won many awards, including the 2015 Chicago Athenaeum, International Architecture Award; the 2014 World Architects, Building of the Year, Editor’s Choice Award. The project has also appeared on the front page of The New York Times, the cover of ARCHITECT magazine, in Architectural Record and The Architects’ Newspaper.

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