HWKN unveils design for innovation center at university of pennsylvania

new york architecture firm HKWN has unveiled their design for the ‘pennovation center’ – a new complex dedicated to entrepreneurs and researchers at the university of pennsylvania. the center will be the first major development within the campus’ 23-acre site known as ‘pennovation works’, and will become an identifiable landmark for the school. the plan calls for the transformation of an industrial facility into a prominent focal point with a faceted northern façade that appears to burst from the existing building.

the faceted northern façade appears to burst from the existing building
all images courtesy of HWKN

‘the pennovation center design creates a truly iconic landmark for penn and will be a dynamic hub for penn’s culture of innovation and interdisciplinary collaboration,’ said penn president amy gutmann. ‘the center is designed to bring together the university’s eminent researchers, scientists and students, along with the private sector, to foster creative exploration, entrepreneurship, new alliances, and generate economic development for the region.’

the plan calls for the transformation of an industrial facility into a prominent focal point

internally, the scheme incorporates an array of areas calibrated for both private and collaborative activity, including co-working desk space, meeting rooms, wet and dry labs, social spaces and a central bleacher dedicated to the various presentations that infant startups make to potential investors. a series of garage doors on the eastern facade open directly to ground-floor studio spaces, in a nod to the many groundbreaking companies that began out of a home garage.

the third floor will house a unique environment designed to promote fundamental research and accelerate the lab-to-market technology transfer pipeline in robotics, the internet of things and embedded systems.

the scheme incorporates areas calibrated for both private and collaborative activity

‘having personally navigated through the startup experience ourselves when we launched HWKN and architizer, we understand the needs and challenges of emerging companies,’ commented HWKN principal matthias hollwich.

‘to create a dream space for innovators and entrepreneurs, we wanted to celebrate the rawness of the former factory and place emphasis on creating a diverse mix of environments suitable for privacy, collaboration, socializing and the business side of growing a company. the building encapsulates the energy and productivity of penn and philadelphia, and in the near future will be directly contributing to both,’ added HWKN’s marc kushner.

the pennovation center is scheduled to open in the summer of 2016, with the penn engineering lab opening in the fall of 2015.

the center contains co-working desk space, meeting rooms and wet and dry labs

an aerial view of the 23-acre site 

project info:

title: the pennovation center
location: pennovation works, university of pennsylvania
size: 58,000 sqf / 5,388 sqm
completion: summer 2016
design architect: HWKN
architect of record: KSS architects
landscape architect: land collective
design consultant: bruce mau design
structural & MEP engineering: ballinger
lighting: focus lighting
sustainability: atelier ten