Fernandez Center for Innovation
& Collaborative Learning
Loyola University, 2022
The Miguel B. Fernandez Family Foundation Center for Innovation & Collaborative Learning is a new 35,000-square-foot facility at Loyola University Maryland, a private Jesuit liberal arts university in Baltimore, Maryland. This new space and the recently renovated Beatty Hall transform the 170-year-old university’s academic quadrangle into a contemporary learning hub. The dynamic, state-of-the-art, and sustainable building is designed to enhance how members of the Loyola community learn, teach, collaborate, innovate, research, and network. We conceptualized and designed a comprehensive donor recognition system, exterior building signage, ADA/code signage, interpretive elements, and environmental graphics. All components were inspired by a central theme found in the building’s name — innovation and collaborative learning.
Environments
Donor Recognition
Architectural Signage
Wayfinding & ADA Signage
Murals & Supergraphics
The Fernandez Center creates both a new, contemporary entry point for the campus and a public connection to the outside community. The facility adjoins Beatty Hall, a 100-year-old “Collegiate Gothic” academic building that underwent a complete interior “reimagination” as part of this project.
Both inside and outside the building, public spaces honor key donors.
Paper, one of humankind’s significant innovations, served as a source of inspiration for multiple sign types. Beginning with paper prototypes, we developed a “folded” sign technique for donor recognition plaques, distraction graphics, and a modern 2-piece cross displayed in every classroom.
Quotes by the Reverend Martin Luther King and Saint Ignatius wrap the secondary stairwell walls in both the Fernandez Center and Beatty Hall. These painted graphics take the “folding” concept one step further.
Graphic totems are incorporated throughout the project, interpreting historic elements, recognizing the university’s past presidents, and honoring the pivotal donor for which the project is named.
We created an installation featuring historic stained glass from Xavier Hall to honor the small chapel once located at the site of the new Fernandez Center.
Photography
Vivian Marie Doering
Awards & Recognition
UCDA Design Awards, Excellence (Environmental Graphics), 2022
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