The Brendan Iribe Center for Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Maryland
Courtesy of HDR/Dan Schwalm The Brendan Iribe Center for Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Maryland

It wasn’t long ago when computer science departments on college campuses were often housed in some variation of a nondescript windowless brick bunker. Not anymore, and especially not at the University of Maryland at College Park, which is now home to the six-story-tall glass-and-metal Brendan Iribe Center for Computer Science and Engineering, designed by HDR. “The university wanted a flagship building that would connect outward to the business community,” says Brian Kowalchuk, FAIA, HDR’s global director of design.

Kowalchuk led the design of the 215,600-square-foot complex with his colleagues from the firm’s Princeton, N.J., and Washington, D.C., offices. The center, which opened in 2019, is just a short walk from the university’s main quad and represents a departure from the predominantly traditional Georgian architecture on the campus. The east-west façade follows a boomerang-shaped plan that bulges at its center to accommodate more public activities at the building’s core. On the south façade, copper-colored fins create memorable horizontal striations while providing sun shading for the glass curtain wall. Multiple entrances on the ground level welcome students, staff, and faculty from every direction.

Copper-colored fins provide shading on the building's south face.
Courtesy of HDR/Dan Schwalm Copper-colored fins provide shading on the building's south face.
The building's oval-shaped form contains two stacked auditoriums and resembles a terrapin, the university's mascot.
Courtesy of HDR/Dan Schwalm The building's oval-shaped form contains two stacked auditoriums and resembles a terrapin, the university's mascot.
The exterior terrace on the building's east end
Courtesy of HDR/Dan Schwalm The exterior terrace on the building's east end

The east face of the building is located in a 100-year-flood plain, which prompted the architects to lift the structure up a level on that end and design an exterior terrace with dramatically skewed columns. The terrace overlooks a broad lawn and the campus gate, extending the building’s interior spaces into the landscape. A rooftop garden on the east side echoes the design of the terrace and offers panoramic views.

In addition to traditional classrooms and offices on the inside, the building also features open-plan work areas and hacker spaces to promote creative interactions, as well as makerspaces on the east end of the second floor that benefit from natural light on three sides and are visible from off campus. All together, these facilities will help Maryland’s computer science department shift its pedagogical approach and be less focused on the computer lab. “It's about making things out of digital technology,” Kowalchuk says. “The curriculum interconnects all departments: It might be new products, new movies, working with humanity, working with physical sciences, anything and everything.”

The building's first-floor "melting pot" (note: all photos were taken pre-pandemic)
Courtesy of HDR/Dan Schwalm The building's first-floor "melting pot" (note: all photos were taken pre-pandemic)
Open stairs wrap around an elevator core clad in wood slats
Courtesy of HDR/Dan Schwalm Open stairs wrap around an elevator core clad in wood slats
Eighteen-foot-tall windows on the first floor offer expansive views of the surrounding landscape
Courtesy of HDR/Dan Schwalm Eighteen-foot-tall windows on the first floor offer expansive views of the surrounding landscape

Not only will the building accommodate 680 students and faculty in the computer science department, but it will also welcome students with other majors. Kowalchuk refers to the center of the first two floors as a “melting pot” that will bring everyone together. The double-height ground floor is centered around a café and exhibition labs, with 18-foot-tall structural glass walls offering views of the surrounding landscape. “Other programs can plug and play into that main central space,” says Diego Samuel, HDR’s design principal lead.

In between the curved wings of the main block, an oval form subtly calls to mind the shape of a terrapin, the university’s mascot. It houses two stacked auditoria with 100- and 298-seat halls, respectively, that fill a need for this size of gathering space on campus. “Both are designed so you can rotate the chairs and have seating facing both directions,” Kowalchuk says. “They aren't just for a big lecture and one kind of function. They're meant to allow teaching opportunities in smaller groups.”

Seating and informal lounge areas located near the entrance to one of the auditoriums
Courtesy of HDR/Dan Schwalm Seating and informal lounge areas located near the entrance to one of the auditoriums
An elevator shaft on the double-height first floor
Courtesy of HDR/Dan Schwalm An elevator shaft on the double-height first floor
Informal work areas on the first floor
Courtesy of HDR/Dan Schwalm Informal work areas on the first floor

The architects introduced natural light into the building through sculptural clearstories that accentuate the mottled brick and chevron-shaped acoustic wood panels found on the interior. Connected to the main wing of the building at both the ground and second levels, a roof terrace provides a discrete outdoor space to use between sessions or for informal al fresco gatherings.

A makerspace
Courtesy of HDR/Dan Schwalm A makerspace
One of the auditoriums
Courtesy of UMD/John T. Consoli One of the auditoriums

“The curriculum is changing in research and academia,” Kowalchuk says of Maryland’s computer science department. HDR’s design for the new center seeks not only to empower its users through its collaborative design, but also symbolizes these new connections with its bold and modern forms.