St. Mary’s College of Maryland and Historic St. Mary’s City held a dedication ceremony today for the new Anne Arundel Hall located at 47407 Old State House Road. Construction of the $34 million project began in July 2014 and the new Anne Arundel Hall opened for classes on August 29, 2016.
“Anne Arundel Hall represents a unique partnership between the College, the State of Maryland, and Historic St. Mary’s City that will greatly benefit our students and the College community, as well as the entire region,” said Dr. Tuajuanda C. Jordan, president, St. Mary’s College. “The reconstructed Anne Arundel Hall enables students, faculty, and staff in the areas of anthropology, museum studies, and international languages and cultures to hold classes, conduct research, and study in a modern, state-of-the-art facility.”
Also within Anne Arundel Hall, The Center for the Study of Democracy is located in Anne Arundel Hall North and Historic St. Mary’s City’s museum is housed in Anne Arundel Hall South. The museum is accredited by the American Alliance of Museums. The courtyard joins all three buildings in a historically rich setting.
“For the first time in the museum’s 50-year existence, we will be able to care for the irreplaceable artifacts from Maryland’s first colonial capital. These collections include materials that span thousands of years of human habitation in the region. They are a resource for understanding our past to tell us where we came from and how we became who we are today. The new facility is an invaluable resource to support our mission of research and a place to preserve more than 5 million artifacts from St. Mary’s City, as we hold them in trust for current and future generations to study,” said Regina Faden, executive director, Historic St. Mary’s City.
Anne Arundel Hall is built to meet LEED Gold certification. The landscape design includes nearly four acres of meadow and native vegetation in order to provide habitat and promote biodiversity on campus. A grey water system uses rainwater for irrigation and toilet flushing, expected to save 72,926 gallons of water each year. A 19.2 kW photovoltaic roof array will supply 3.6 percent of the building’s total energy costs. Rapidly renewable finishes, including bamboo flooring and interior blinds, cork tack boards, and natural linoleum flooring, reduce the depletion of finite raw materials by replacing them with materials that can be harvested within a ten-year cycle or shorter. A projected 86 percent of all construction and demolition waste was recycled or salvaged.
The three buildings that comprise Anne Arundel Hall total 39,000 square feet. Smithgroup JJR served as architect of the project and Gilbane Building Company oversaw the construction. Landscape project designer was Lan Hogue for Michael Vergason Landscape Architect.
