The University of Kansas (KU) School of Architecture & Design has selected Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) to complete space planning, programming, and concept design for the expansion of the multidisciplinary design school.
The school has experienced a rise in enrollment and program offerings over the past decade, prompting efforts to renovate its facilities to accommodate the recent growth and modernize academic spaces in accordance with KU’s 2024 Master Plan. The school and university stakeholders have enlisted BIG architects to create design strategies that foster program expansion and improve connections between academic programs. Using the existing strengths of the facilities situated at the core of KU’s Lawrence campus, BIG will devise a blueprint for a revamped school building that honors the site’s established character and fosters innovative teaching and research.
The KU School of Architecture & Design provides professional design education for undergraduate and graduate students in architecture, interior architecture, and design. The school is currently situated in various large buildings located in the historical district of KU’s Lawrence campus, with additional facilities both on and off-campus in the surrounding area.
Two buildings, Marvin, and Chalmers halls, serve as the primary spaces for academic, research, administrative, and faculty offices. Other buildings are utilized for specialized research and fabrication labs, as well as academic spaces. This arrangement is a result of the architecture and design departments being housed separately before their merger in 2009. Building renovations have strengthened the facilities further, however, the need for additional space presents an opportunity to foster stronger physical connections between academic programs, multidisciplinary labs, and student support services.
The selection for the architect was made possible through a competition seeking submissions from national and international firms, evaluated on a basis of criteria formulated with the aid of design industry leaders assisting the dean of the school, Mahbub Rashid. At the beginning of March, BIG’s team of architects visited the KU campus to study existing facilities and conduct workshops with stakeholders, and later they presented their design concept to a public Q&A session. Soon, the team will present the analysis and initial concepts to KU leaders and the School of Architecture & Design Professional Advisory Board, while in June, it will present completed project documents and renderings.
“Our two departments have long had a special place on Jayhawk Boulevard. BIG’s response to our facility needs will celebrate this rich history while also helping us to envision new opportunities to teach and support students,” says Mahbub Rashid, dean of the school. “Their team’s enthusiasm for the project, the firm’s record of forward-thinking design excellence, and commitment to an inclusive, equitable, and sustainable future makes them a perfect partner for us.”
“For an architect, each project is kicked off with a crash course seeking to educate ourselves in an entirely new field, because we rarely design for other architects (they tend to do that themselves). In this case—with our first design for a school of architecture and design—I feel I have been preparing for this on a daily basis for the last three decades,” says BIG founder and creative director, Bjarke Ingels, “We want to create the physical framework for future generations of Kansas form-givers, architects, and designers—a space that provokes unexpected encounters, triggers critical conversations, and builds new bridges between discourses and skill sets, arts, crafts, and technologies. The design work is just about to begin, even if my research for it started a generation ago.”
