Umass Amherst’s new 70,000-sf Business Innovation Hub combines a new expansion with the partial renovation of the Isenberg School of Management. Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) designed the building with Goody Clancy as the architect of Record.
The building doubles the school’s current space and introduces new facilities for more than 150 staff and 5,000 students in undergraduate, master’s, and PhD programs. The exterior is wrapped in straight, vertical pillars that gradually slope downward, creating a domino effect and a triangular glass entrance. The exterior’s copper cladding will naturally weather from a dark ochre to a patina with long-term exposure to the elements.
Photo: Laurian Ghinitoiu.
Students and faculty will enter into the naturally-lit, 5,000-sf Learning Commons. This will be a place for learning, networking, and dining. The Learning Commons can also double as a venue for guest speakers, ceremonies, banquets, and career fairs.
See Also: 17-story Data Sciences building to rise on Boston University campus
The Business Innovation Hub extends directly into the existing 1964 building from the north and east sides in a wide circular loop. The loop consolidates Isenberg’s faculty and staff under one roof and creates a circular place of arrival. Various conference rooms and breakout areas are distributed throughout the loop.
Photo: Laurian Ghinitoiu.
“The new Business Innovation Hub at the Isenberg School of Management is conceived as an extension of both the building and the campus mall,” said Bjarke Ingels, Founder and Creative Director, BIG, in a release. “The linear structure is bent to form a full loop framing an internal courtyard for the life of the students. The façade is pulled away in a domino effect to create a generous invitation from the Haigis Mall to the Learning Commons. The mall and the courtyard – inside and outside form a forum for the students, the faculty and the profession to meet, mingle and mix society and academia.”
Photo: Laurian Ghinitoiu.
Innovation labs, advising spaces, and faculty offices are located on the second and third floors. Classrooms are equipped with integrated technology for distance learning and can be easily transformed for theater-style lectures or small group work.
The inner spaces of the extension face a circular courtyard that connects back to the campus via two pathways between the original Isenberg building and the Business Innovation Hub. Two bridges above these paths fuse the buildings.
Photo: Max Touhey.
Photo: Laurian Ghinitoiu.
Photo: Max Touhey.
Photo: Laurian Ghinitoiu.
Photo: Laurian Ghinitoiu.
Related Stories
| Aug 11, 2010
Northeast Lakeview College opens in Texas, to serve 15,000 students
After four years of construction, Northeast Lakeview College, the newest addition to Alamo Colleges, is complete. Designed by Overland Partners Architects in collaboration with Ford Powell & Carson, the nine-building, 285-acre campus in Universal City, near San Antonio, will serve up to 15,000 students.
| Aug 11, 2010
Dual physics buildings aim for LEED Silver
Two new physics buildings providing 197,000 sf of teaching, study, and office space are opening at Texas A&M University. The $82.5-million George P. Mitchell '40 Physics Building and the George P. and Cynthia Woods Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics and Astronomy offer new research laboratories, graduate and undergraduate lounges, offices, a 468-seat lecture hall, and a 180-seat aud...
| Aug 11, 2010
University building gets revamped, reused
KSS Architects of Philadelphia is designing the addition and renovation to SUNY Cortland's Studio West, a 43,000-sf metal panel and brick building dating to 1948. The 20,000-sf, two-story addition will become the Professional Studies Building, housing the consolidated departments of Recreation, Parks, and Leisure Studies; Communications Disorders and Sciences; and Kinesiology and Sports Managem...
| Aug 11, 2010
Project is music to school's ears
Florida Gulf Coast University is building a $7.55 million Fine Arts Building on its campus near Ft. Myers, Fla. The 25,000-sf building—the first project in the school's plan for an entire music complex—will house the music program of the College of Arts and Sciences. The facility includes a 200-seat recital hall, rehearsal hall, music labs, studio rooms, and administration offices.
| Aug 11, 2010
BU students move into high-rise dorm
Boston University’s newest residential building rises 26 stories above the Charles River. Part of the school’s 10-acre John Hancock Student Village, the 396,000-sf tower houses 962 students and has three apartments for faculty use. The tower also has a large multipurpose room on the top floor.
| Aug 11, 2010
Expansion of chemistry facility no experiment
A September ground breaking at Wayne State University in Detroit puts the school’s A. Paul Schaap Chemistry Building and Lecture Hall on track for a December 2010 completion. The $37 million, 96,000-sf facility is the second phase of a two-phase project to expand and renovate the existing chemistry building.
| Aug 11, 2010
Polshek unveils design for University of North Texas business building
New York City-based architect Polshek Partnership unveiled its design scheme for the $70 million Business Leadership Building at the University of North Texas in Denton. Designed to provide UNT’s 5,600-plus business majors with a state-of-the-art learning environment, the 180,000-sf facility will include an open atrium, an internet café, and numerous study and tutoring rooms—al...
| Aug 11, 2010
Cooper Union academic building designed to reach LEED Platinum
Morphosis Architects and Gruzen Samton are collaborating on an ultra-green academic building for New York’s Cooper Union that is designed to achieve LEED Platinum certification. The program for the nine-story facility mixes state-of-the-art laboratories, classrooms, a multipurpose auditorium, and a range of public and social spaces.
| Aug 11, 2010
Utah research facility reflects Native American architecture
A $130 million research facility is being built at University of Utah's Salt Lake City campus. The James L. Sorenson Molecular Biotechnology Building—a USTAR Innovation Center—is being designed by the Atlanta office of Lord Aeck & Sargent, in association with Salt-Lake City-based Architectural Nexus.
| Aug 11, 2010
Construction begins on Louisiana State Sports Hall of Fame
Heavy construction and foundation work has started on the new Louisiana State Sports Hall of Fame and Regional History Museum in Natchitoches, La. Designed by Trahan Architects, Baton Rouge, the $12 million, 28,000-sf museum will be clad in sinker cypress planks as a nod to the region’s rich timber legacy and to help control light, views, and ventilation throughout the facility.
