 |
A community-based facility, the Center for Entrepreneurial Innovation (CEI) is located adjacent to GateWay Community College in Phoenix. With a mix of office spaces, wet-labs and light manufacturing suites, along with a variety of collaboration spaces, the facility is designed to promote interaction between start-up businesses in the bioscience and other emerging technology fields so they can leverage their collective resources and pull talent from the adjacent college.
Mark Kranz, design principal with Phoenix-based architect SmithGroupJJR, describes the CEI as a really unique project that “inserts a research and business incubator into a community college campus with the goal of bringing in partners and collaborators to stimulate economic development.” He goes on to describe it as a “humble campus building that works to blend into an existing context, it is specifically designed to present an invitation to technology start-ups hoping to integrate with and engage the campus.”
Designed in parallel with another larger adjacent academic facility, the 18,200-square-foot CEI was conceptually intended to symbolize an aggregate of the campus DNA and brand. “Figuratively speaking,” Kranz says, “we were imagining the offspring of the best looking architectural ‘parents’ on campus.” The facility is planned as a series of modular tenant research labs of varying sizes, punctuated by a centrally located conferencing center and social hub. “Amongst a more contextual field of masonry and silver metal, the copper-clad social hub highlights a critical spirit of entrepreneurism and collaboration,” Kranz says. “It both reaches towards the campus and invites the community in.”
The project features ribbed copper panels and galvanized steel metal wall panels. Kovach Building Enclosures, Chandler, Ariz., supplied its 16-oz copper MS200 and 20-oz copper custom profile panels, while Rome, N.Y.-based Revere Copper Products Inc. supplied the copper. Additionally, Rollfab Metal Products, Phoenix, supplied its 22-gauge galvanized steel with a Kynar Modified FP10 and 24-gauge galvanized steel with Kynar MS200 metal panels.
 |
“Metal panels allowed the design team to wrap the wing walls of the lab and conference space with a sustainable, easily maintainable material that showcases the mission of the center-innovation,” explains Kranz. “The juxtaposition of the custom profile copper-clad conference center and the smooth silver lab wings give the facility a distinctive and recognizable look.”
Kranz adds that the copper is utilized strategically to express the collaborative activities between entrepreneurs, investors and researchers at the project’s core. “The Galvalume panels are integrated with masonry at the laboratory bays to create a modulating and rhythmic façade that optimizes daylight harvesting strategies,” he says.
The Design Award Judges appreciated the detail in the copper panel design, noting everything from the repetition and pattern to the three-dimensionality of the ribs and trim pieces.
“The articulated copper cladding was crafted to express a level of kinetic momentum between the campus and the community,” says Kranz. “The fabrication and meticulous installation of this element is really the focal point of the project from a design standpoint.”
From a sustainability standpoint, the project is focused on three main areas, explains Kranz. First, the project works to create community at multiple scales. Second, daylight for each of the labs was of paramount importance. And finally, the systems design was focused on driving down energy usage for the high energy-using research laboratory. Selected for their sustainability, durability and ease of maintenance, Kranz says the simple profile gives an elegant look, while adding a level of shade that works well with the harsh desert sun. Additionally, the silver color compliments the facility’s technical mission.
“It’s pretty amazing to see a community college with the foresight and entrepreneurial mindset willing to leverage its resources in a way that impacts economic development and innovation in the community,” says Kranz.
Center for Entrepreneurial Excellence, GateWay Community College, Phoenix
Completed: December 2012
Total square footage: 18,200 square feet
Building owner: Maricopa County Community College District
Architect: SmithGroupJJR, Phoenix, www.smithgroupjjr.com
General contractor: Core Construction, Phoenix,
www.coreconstruct.com
Copper panel fabricator/metal installer: Kovach Building Enclosures, Chandler, Ariz., www.kovach.net
Copper: Revere Copper Products Inc., Rome, N.Y.,
www.reverecopper.com
Curtainwall/sunshades: KT Fabrication Inc., Chandler, Ariz., www.ktfab.com
Painted steel panels: Rollfab Metal Products, Phoenix, www.rollfabmetal.com