PROJECT Virginia Tech Innovation Campus Start-up Space

ARCHITECT SmithGroup

LOCATION  Alexandria, Virginia US

PROJECT COMPLETION DATE  10/1/2020

ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN TEAM  SmithGroup - Architecture, Interior Design, Engineering, Lighting Design: Robert Bull, AIA, LEED AP, Principal, Office Director and Director of Operations Sven Shockey, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, Principal-in-Charge, Design Principal Stacy Brinegar, Project Manager Laura Cranford, Project Designer Jorges Rosales, Project Designer David Fersh, Project Designer Andrej Cerni, Mechanical Engineer Fairooz Alawami, Electrical Engineer Jacob Pohlman, Electrical Engineer Mohammed Fahd, Plumbing Engineer
OWNER/CLIENT Virginia Tech Foundation Inc.
CONTRACTOR/CONSTRUCTION MANAGER  Gilbane Building Company / Kyle Sugrowe
PHOTOGRAPHER  Judy Davis/Studio HDP

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SUMMARY DESCRIPTION OF PROJECT  

With Virginia Tech’s Northern Virginia Innovation Campus still in its Phase One planning and design stages, the University needed a space for executive leadership and support staff to work, and a public venue to host events and recruiting activities for prospective students. Capitalizing on a ground floor, retail storefront setting in North Potomac Yards, the future site of the four-acre campus, the new Virginia Tech Start-up space is a preview of the state-of-the art 300,000 square foot Innovation Center Academic Building (ICAB) to come.

To convey the atmosphere found in technology start-up companies, the airy, light-filled space is designed with flexibility in mind, providing a combination of public gathering spots, collaborative work areas for ideation, and private offices. Bold graphics in the entry way introduce Virginia Tech brand colors and the project’s signature feature: a custom-designed, suspended, acoustical ceiling composed of recycled, triangular PET white felt panels. The ceiling element references the folded, solar photovoltaic-influenced form of the future Innovation Campus building, soon to be constructed. It also links and energizes the work zones within the space and has its own articulated topography to incorporate lighting and other equipment in the reveals between panels. The triangle motif is repeated throughout the open space and helps blend a diverse material palette—wood-slatted walls, whiteboards, concrete, graphics, and patterned carpets—along with movable easels and furniture that can easily be reconfigured for different types of meetings and events.

The modest budget allowed the design team to creatively experiment with a range of materials to create a space with a high impact result. For example, Polycarbonate sheets act as both sliding doors and luminous surfaces to refract light throughout the space and visually connect the center’s public and private areas.

Material experimentation and fabrication techniques were further explored in the design of two custom light fixtures. The pendants’ form riffs off the concept of folding planes found in the ceiling and is derived directly from unfolding the architectural geometry of the Innovation building and then refolding it into a new, light-distributing shape. This exercise is a nod to the transformative power of knowledge anticipated as the driver for the innovation campus. The light fixtures, along with the sculptural ceiling will be re-installed in the innovation campus building, once completed. In the interim, the Start-up Space serves as a temporary multi-use facility designed to inspire and support a forward-thinking environment energized for creativity and discovery.

JURY COMMENTS (If applicable)

MEDIA FOR DOWNLOAD
Project/Jury PDF

IMAGES (Captions and Photographer Credit)

1. Bold graphics in the entry way introduce the project’s signature feature: a custom-designed, suspended, acoustical ceiling composed of triangular PET white felt panels. ©Judy Davis/Studio HDP
2. The undulating, faceted ceiling unifies the space and adds a sense of dynamism to the open plan areas. ©Judy Davis/Studio HDP
3. The kitchenette provides an informal meeting area between work areas. ©Judy Davis/Studio HDP

4. Polycarbonate sheets act as both sliding doors and luminous surfaces to refract light throughout the space and visually connect the center’s public and private areas. ©Judy Davis/Studio HDP
5. The Huddle Room for small group collaborations. ©Judy Davis/Studio HDP
6. Wood-slatted walls add an element of warmth to the conference room. ©Judy Davis/Studio HDP
7. The design of the two custom pendant light fixtures in the Start-up Space is derived directly from unfolding the architectural geometry of the Virginia Tech Innovation Campus building and then refolding it into a new, light-distributing shape. ©Judy Davis/Studio HDP
8. The open space can be reconfigured for many uses with moveable furniture, area rugs, and easels. ©Judy Davis/Studio HDP