Politicians, donors and University of Baltimore alumni joined faculty and staff at the groundbreaking ceremony Thursday for the new John and Frances Angelos Law Center, a $107 million project on Mount Royal Avenue and North Charles Street.
Construction of the 190,000-square-foot building is expected to be completed in 2012, making UB's law school the sixth-largest public law school in the country.
Speakers including Gov. Martin O'Malley praised donors such as Orioles owner and UB law alumnus Peter G. Angelos, who contributed $5 million to the project in 2008 as well as an additional $5 million in June. The building is named after his parents.
UB raised a total of $15 million in private funding for the project, which will be used along with state money.
University President Robert L. Bogomolny said the design of the building "is one that embraces the realities of where legal education is going."
The new center will have 12 levels around a common atrium to facilitate interaction among and between students and faculty. Reflecting the evolving methods for research and learning, the new law library will also house only a third of the print volumes contained in the current library, he said.
"Books will still be important, but there will also be strong emphasis on technology and providing spaces for group study and team projects, reflecting the reality that problem-solving in the modern world is not achieved by individuals in isolation but by collective efforts and diverse talents and multiple perspectives," he said.
The building will include environmentally friendly components, including energy-efficient LED lights, a green roof that will be watered by rainwater wells and automated windows that will circulate fresh air throughout the structure. Energy consumption will be reduced by more than 30 percent, said Bogomolny.
"Every office — that's right, every office — will have a window that actually opens," he told the crowd of dignitaries, students and faculty, who cheered.
The Abell Foundation helped pay for an international design contest for the project. Officials selected an entry by the German firm Behnisch Architekten, working with Ayers Saint Gross of Baltimore. The building will resemble a series of interlocking cubes, according to news reports.