Athens, Greece
Italian architect Renzo Piano and his Genoa-based office, the Renzo Piano Building Workshop, are designing the new Johns Hopkins University’s Stavros Niarchos Foundation Agora Institute’s new home on the Hopkins campus.
Piano is partnering with Baltimore-based architectural firm Ayers Saint Gross with Partner-in charge Mark Carroll is leading the project.
The Foundation committed $150 million to a joint effort with Johns Hopkins University to create the SNF Agora Institute, in order to forge new ways to address the deterioration of civic engagement worldwide and facilitate the restoration of open and inclusive discourse that is the cornerstone of healthy democracies.
Drawing inspiration from the Agora of ancient Athens, which was a hub of conversation and debate, and the center of the city-state’s democratic governance, the gift establishes the SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University, as an academic and public forum bringing together experts from fields such as political science, psychology, neuroscience, philosophy, ethics, sociology, and history.
The Institute will examine the dynamics of societal, cultural and political polarization and develop ways to improve decision-making and civic discourse. It also will design and test mechanisms for strengthening democracy through dialogue and social engagement, and convene subject matter experts from a range of perspectives to explore new approaches to divisive issues.
Renzo Piano envisions the building portraying the story of the institute’s work, symbolizing a portal to connect it to the community beyond its walls.
The design features two “floating” glass structures to embody the Institute’s commitment to transparency and openness—and to ensure that the community can see into the building, and that the researchers and others working inside can look out to the broader world.
“A building that houses an institute dedicated to democracy should be open, accessible, transparent – the work is for everyone,” said Renzo Piano of the designs.
“The building is designed to reflect these priorities, in design, materials, and accessibility.”
“As the name indicates, a founding premise of the SNF Agora Institute is that place can be a catalyst in sustaining productive dialogue within a dynamic social nexus,” said SNF co-President Andreas Dracopoulos.
“In an organization that’s about creating a safe and quality environment for discussion and debate, the actual physical space—its ability to welcome, to include, to facilitate—is critical. Renzo Piano has been fully engaged with this philosophy since the beginning (in his capacity both as architect and as a member of the SNF Agora Board of Overseers) and has thought deeply to create a building that fits Hopkins at large, the wider community, and this open, outward-facing institution. We can’t wait to see it take shape.”
The institute’s home will be located on Wyman Park Drive, a site that provides visibility, proximity to students and faculty, and accessibility for the community for events and other public forums.
SNF Agora is set to break ground in summer of 2021, with completion of the building expected to follow in 2023.
Architects: Renzo Piano Workshop
Architects of Record: Ayers Saint Gross
Client: Stavros Niarchos Foundation