News

Building Design + Construction wrote about the National Aquarium Harbor Wetland, giving credit to Ayers Saint Gross as the architect of record. Ayers Saint Gross worked with the National Aquarium to design the sustainable, high-performing floating wetland intended to restore natural habitats and improve biodiversity and water quality.

Texas State University hosted a groundbreaking ceremony on Friday, Aug. 16, to mark the start of construction on the university’s new STEM classroom building. The 168,000-square-foot building is expected to be operational by fall 2026.

National Aquarium Harbor Wetland was featured in Bloomberg's City Lab. Designed by Baltimore-based architecture firm Ayers Saint Gross, the floating structure is among the largest and most ambitious efforts to clean up urban waterways by tapping the filtering properties of native shrubs and grasses.

Dubbed “The Ridge,” this housing integrates two primary needs highlighted during the university’s master planning: a lack of graduate housing on Emory’s core campus and a space for Emory graduate students to gather and support community building.

Principal Amelle Schultz spoke to Architect's Newspaper about the opening of National Aquarium Harbor Wetland. “We think this approach can be replicated at many other compromised waterfronts to improve environmental health in urban conditions. It’s a great way of connecting people to water, and educating the public about water and ecological issues.”

Earl Purdue, longtime leader of our health sciences studio, is retiring from the firm after more than three decades of service.

Innovation districts can attract and develop talent, nurture startups, create economic opportunities, and address societal challenges in health, climate, and equity. Ayers Saint Gross planned districts, including The Pearl and Cortex Innovation Community, are included in this report on how innovation districts can be successful.

Ayers Saint Gross has shared renderings of its new design in Charlotte, NC. The project is part of The Pearl; a planned innovation district that will total three million square feet at its full buildout and is intended to aid the Wake Forest School of Medicine’s expansion and become a new civic hub for Charlotte.

Our National Nurses Week newsletter highlights some of our recent and ongoing nursing and health sciences projects at the University of Central Florida, Duke University, Hofstra University, and more.

Ayers Saint Gross interior designer Karen Bastidas, an associate in our interior design studio, was recognized as an IIDA Mid-Atlantic Chapter Emerging Leader Champion during the chapter's Premiere Design Awards event on May 1.

Our Spring 2024 Engage, Create, Enrich newsletter highlights some of our recent and ongoing projects, including The Howard R. Levine Center for Education, 100 Forge, and Cunniffe Commons at the Ringling College of Art and Design.

Ayers Saint Gross architect and planner Laura Wheaton has been awarded a 2024 AIA Young Architects Award, which honors individuals who have demonstrated exceptional leadership and made significant contributions to the architecture profession early in their careers.

The Jack C. Taylor Visitor Center at the Missouri Botanical Garden was named Best in Show, the highest recognition of the night, and earned a design excellence award. Frisco Landing at the University of North Texas at Frisco received an award of merit.

Principal Shannon Dowling speaks to associate architect Caitlin Brady about how higher education design can promote belonging on campus for both an article and Architectette podcast episode.

Ayers Saint Gross was recently ranked as number 3 on the Top 70 Museum Architecture Firms for the year on the Building Design + Construction 2023 Giants 400 Report.

At Ayers Saint Gross, we’re grateful for our creative and collaborative employees who shape the built environment and our profession for the better. This year, we would like to congratulate 15 of these individuals on their well-deserved promotions.These individuals are all talented leaders in their field, working with mission-driven clients to create places for shared knowledge and culture. To celebrate their accomplishments, we asked each…

Are you interested in joining our team? Our firm is visiting a number of colleges and universities this spring for campus recruiting and career fairs.

With the turning of ceremonial dirt Friday, University of Central Florida students, donors and administrators celebrated breaking ground on the transformational Dr. Phillips Nursing Pavilion — a state-of-the-art building that will strengthen patient care by enabling UCF to graduate 150 more highly qualified, compassionate nurses each year.

As Bryant's enrollment grows, on-campus housing must meet the demand. Last winter, the university tapped D.C.-based higher education architecture firm, Ayers Saint Gross, to assess residential life at Bryant.

Ayers Saint Gross was recently ranked highly for our work in student housing and cultural projects on the Building Design + Construction 2023 Giants 400 Report.  

Ayers Saint Gross employees are sharing a playlist that inspires our most creative work, with songs spanning genres, cultures, and time periods.

As we wrap up 2023, Ayers Saint Gross is proudly reflecting on another year marked by achievement, collaboration, and progress.

Kevin Miller, a member of our architecture design staff, was named a recipient of AIA Baltimore’s Emerging Professional Award, which recognizes proficiency and exceptional accomplishments to the profession by those who have been working in the architecture field for less than ten years.

College of Nursing Dean Mary Lou Sole said during a Nov. 16 UCF Board of Trustees meeting that last year the school graduated 275 nurses, and when it moves into the new facility, she hopes that will double. “This will allow us to have larger space and larger labs to be able to educate those nurses plus our focus on new faculty.”

Since his first day of work in 1978, Glenn Birx has played a part in almost every project Ayers Saint Gross has worked on. Now, leading up to his retirement, he is reflecting on his career.

Co-authored by Principal Shannon Dowling, this article explores how the design of higher education environments can be more responsive to the needs of neurodivergent students.

As planning continues to advance towards Wake Forest University School of Medicine's Charlotte campus seating its first class in 2025, designers and engineers are working to ensure the Howard R. Levine Center for Education will be state-of-the-art, including building the facility to a carbon-zero and LEED Gold standard, while also achieving a WELL Building Standard.

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) honored two Ayers Saint Gross projects with AIA Baltimore Excellence in Design Awards. Greensboro Hall at Ringling College of Art and Design and the Yahentamitsi Dining Hall at the University of Maryland were given honorable mentions in the higher education category.

The University of Texas at El Paso broke ground Thursday morning on a new Liberal Arts Building that will be called the Texas Western Hall. Designed by Ayers Saint Gross, the new building will have larger classrooms, open spaces, and the newest technology for students.

Ayers Saint Gross has been working with the National Aquarium to design a new floating wetland exhibit, Harbor Wetland, which will be installed between piers 3 and 4 in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor. Scheduled to open next summer, the exhibit will feature a walking dock and a network of floating, manmade “islands” with plants and grasses to attract and provide shelter for native species.  

Planner and Architect Amber Wendland, who works as a lecturer at the University of Maryland, talks about her work in urban and community-based planning as part of this article for the university's website.

For the second year in a row, Ayers Saint Gross ranked among the top five university architecture firms in the country on the Building Design+Construction 2023 Giants 400 Report. The rankings, which are based on 2022 revenue, listed Ayers Saint Gross as #5 out of 170 firms from around the United States.

Shannon Dowling, principal architect and learning environments strategist, was recently recognized with AIA Virginia’s 2023 Award for Distinguished Achievement. The award, which is given annually, recognizes Shannon for her work as well as her advocacy and service within her local community.

Architect Caitlin Brady, AIA, LEED BD+C was recently named a recipient of AIA DC’s Emerging Architect Award, which recognizes proficiency and exceptional accomplishments to the profession by an architect who has been a registered architect for less than 10 years.

Ayers Saint Gross made its first Just Disclosure with the International Living Future Institute (ILFI) in 2019 to share more quantitative data about the social equity and justice issues embedded in who we are and how we practice design. We’re proud to share we’ve recently renewed our disclosure for 2023.

The Jack C. Taylor Visitor Center at the Missouri Botanical Garden was featured in a special episode of Spotlight STL, a weekly show that shares information about St. Louis arts and culture. In the episode, Garden President Peter Wyse Jackson provides a tour of the new visitor center, which was designed by Ayers Saint Gross.

This summer Worcester Polytechnic Institute Facilities are beginning major renovations in Stratton Hall and beyond; and the intense work of creating a new campuswide facilities plan to guide decisions related to the university’s buildings and grounds for the next 10 years.

The Mid-Atlantic Chapter of the International Interior Design Association (IIDA) recently awarded Greensboro Hall at Ringling College of Art and Design a 2023 Premiere Finalist Award.

The Society for College and University Planning (SCUP) recently honored the Grinnell College Kington Plaza and Christiansen Outdoor Learning Spaces with a 2023 Excellence in Landscape Architecture General Design Merit Award.

The revitalization of Baltimore County's beloved Security Square Mall brings the community vision of a vibrant, walkable, and entertaining economic hub back to life.

Ayers Saint Gross is the design architect for the new College of Nursing at the University of Central Florida. The Helene Fuld Health Trust has committed a $5.5 million gift to the College of Nursing to support the creation of a state-of-the-art simulation center in the new building, a critical component to education and innovation.

The two buildings opened in August 2022 for the new academic year and are home to the departments of engineering and physics and serve as a new hub for multidisciplinary education and innovation in the heart of Elon’s campus. Announced in 2020 as part of the Boldly Elon strategic plan, these buildings feature 65,000 square feet of cutting-edge labs, workshops and creation spaces.

The first new dining hall on campus in 49 years, Yahentamitsi Dining Hall at the University of Maryland completed an 11-year new-build project when it opened in 2022. The nearly 68,000-square-foot all-you-care-to-eat facility can serve up to 15,000 guests daily.

Emory graduate and professional students will have a new housing option, opening in summer 2024 for the fall semester. The Graduate and Professional Student Housing Initiative broke ground on Phase I in September 2022 and is continuing on schedule.

Are you interested in joining our team? Our firm will be visiting a number of colleges and universities this spring for campus recruiting and career fairs, both virtually and in-person.

This year, we would like to recognize 20 of our talented and creative employee-owners on their well-deserved promotions. To celebrate, we asked each of them to reflect on the industry challenges they are most excited to overcome in the future.

Despite wet weather, dirt has finally moved at the site of what will eventually be the Wake Forest University School of Medicine Charlotte and innovation district known as “The Pearl.” A group of about 200 stakeholders, community leaders and representatives from Wake Forest, Atrium Health and Wexford Science & Technology gathered this morning under the cover of a massive tent to break ground on the 700,000-square-foot med school and innovation district.

Following a ribbon-cutting ceremony last week, classes opened today at the University of North Texas at Frisco's first permanent campus building, Frisco Landing. The $100 million, 135,000-square-foot building will be home to many of UNT at Frisco's 2,500 students. Its collaborative design includes 69 "huddle rooms," interactive classrooms, and more. Here's a look both outside and in.

In 2022, Ayers Saint Gross celebrated a number of individual and team accomplishments and was recognized with 19 design awards.

The detailed master plan, developed by Ayers Saint Gross, provides a visitor infrastructure and experiential framework that knits the implementation of Wadi AlFann’s contemporary art program with the preservation and interpretation of its heritage sites. Artist sites have been identified to protect sensitive landscapes, ensure site integrity and enhance visitor movement and immersion within the site’s network of canyons.

The National Aquarium's Floating Wetland Prototype was recently featured as part of a Yale Environment 360 article.