Hood College / Hodson Science Center

The Hodson Science and Technology Center successfully addressed the unique challenge of integrating modern academic and research facilities into the historic fabric of Hood College, a private liberal arts institution founded in 1893 in Frederick, Maryland. The project’s mandate was to seamlessly combine teaching, classroom, and state-of-the-art research space for Chemistry, Biology, Math, Physics, and Computer Science within the context of the surrounding Georgian Revival architecture.

Designed specifically to foster interdisciplinary collaboration, the center utilizes shared spaces that actively bring students and faculty together. A key design element is the modular arrangement of laboratory space, which organizes the facility into flexible learning clusters. This configuration directly integrates hands-on teaching environments with adjacent faculty research labs, creating immediate opportunities for practical, collaborative work. This thoughtful modular approach also controlled the building’s scale, ensuring it harmonizes beautifully with the established campus context.

The classrooms are equipped with the latest multimedia teaching tools to support diverse pedagogical approaches, ranging from traditional lectures to active group work. Finally, the center’s influence extends beyond its physical footprint, anchoring a newly defined science quadrangle that frames a dialogue between the new construction and the original campus architecture.