Shepley Bulfinch to Conduct Feasibility Study at Loyola University Maryland


Boston Shepley Bulfinch, a national architecture firm  with offices in Boston, Houston and Phoenix,  announced that it has been selected to conduct a feasibility study for an Integrated Behavioral Science Complex at Loyola University Maryland in Baltimore, Maryland. The study will define the program and design concepts to create a complex of bold new academic engagement spaces facing Loyola’s central Evergreen Quad.

The vision for the Integrated Behavioral Science Complex represents a remarkable opportunity for Loyola to provide a unique and inspirational academic facility: a collaborative environment that serves as a catalyst for new discoveries and innovations resulting from interdisciplinary scholarship, research, and practice. The complex is the first project to come out of Loyola’s 2017-2022 strategic plan, endorsed by the board of trustees in October of 2016 that positions Loyola University Maryland as a leading national liberal arts university in the Jesuit, Catholic tradition.

“It is our pleasure to work closely with the Shepley Bulfinch team on this truly distinctive space and appreciate the extent to which they are engaging the Loyola campus community to ensure the project meets a broad range of needs,” said Randall D. Gentzler, Loyola’s vice president for finance and administration/treasurer. “They are thoughtful and curious, and we are confident in their ability to think outside the box.”

While there are a number of existing models for interdisciplinary buildings in the STEM fields, very few currently exist for the behavioral sciences, allowing Loyola to create its own prototype based also on the university’s Jesuit values.

“The future Integrated Behavioral Science Complex will bring together Loyola’s behavioral, social science, and education programs from across the university into an interdisciplinary academic hub, creating space for students, faculty, and the community to learn together whether inside or outside the classroom,” said Amy Wolfson, vice president for academic affairs. “The reconstruction will include classrooms, research areas, and shared learning spaces, transforming teaching, learning, and research, while connecting people and programs across psychology, speech-language-hearing sciences, sociology, and education.”

In addition to new building strategies, the feasibility study will define the reinvention of historic Beatty Hall. Sited to face the historic quad as well as Cold Spring Lane, the project presents a tremendous design opportunity to create an identifiable “front door” for Loyola University Maryland with a signature building that is both respectful of the existing campus fabric and welcoming to the surrounding community.