A Major New Building will Support Growing Academic Programs

The new 184,000-square foot Martin Luther King, Jr. Communication Arts and Humanities Building will house the Departments of Communications, Language, Literature & Cultural Studies, History and Government, and ROTC at Bowie State University. Mueller is providing mechanical and electrical engineering services for the project under a design-build contract with the Whiting-Turner Contracting Company and Perkins + Will.

The university anticipates that the new MLK Building will be the most heavily used academic building on campus, providing general education classes for every student. It will feature active learning classrooms and collaborative informal student study spaces. Specialized class laboratories include audio/video editing and demonstration spaces for media production, broadcast/print journalism, public relations, language, literacy and writing, history, government, and geographic information systems. It will also house public spaces and amenities to support the administrative needs of multiple departments.

Specific features include:

• A 1,500-seat auditorium/lecture hall
• Professional media production facilities for the university’s television and radio stations
• Space for BSU’s growing ROTC program
• Specialized class laboratories
• Flexible and collaborative learning environments
• Spaces for student support services
• Administrative spaces to support interdisciplinary faculty