Honorable Mention: International Architecture Awards 2022 
Student Innovation Center Iowa State University | Ames, Iowa, USA | 2020

Architects: KieranTimberlake LLP. with Substance Architecture
Design Team: James Timberlake David Riz Laurent Hedquist Jason Ciotti-Niebish Philip Baraldi David Rariden Cheryl Hu, and Frannie Bower
Associate Architects: Substance Architecture 
General Contractor: JE Dunn Construction 
Client: Iowa State University
Photographers: Peter Aaron/OTTO

This 140,000 square foot building is a centralized resource serving all nine colleges that comprise a major public university in the American Midwest. The building was conceived as a university-wide facility that would allow each college to explore the role “making” plays in innovation within their individual disciplines. The building is open to all 36,000+ students at the university and represents a shift in campus-wide pedagogy away from traditional passive learning toward a hands-on, interactive teaching model.

The project is without precedent and required a rigorous, probative programming process to determine what the building should be. A series of focus groups resulted in each College identifying what their student’s “make” (from music to food to business plans) and, in turn, what spaces and equipment would facilitate these activities. The building becomes a container that is filled with an evolving set of “maker” spaces ranging from metal, wood, and composite fabrication shops; to a test kitchen, café, and retail outlet; and to a rooftop garden.

Innovative teaching formats are supported with flexible, technology-enabled classrooms in unique formats found nowhere else on campus. Finally, a gallery space was included to display the results of “making” campus-wide. The building’s program is intended to evolve. The simple structure frames a series of flexible, loft-like spaces that can be reconfigured over time. The interior finishes are rough, and the systems are exposed to further accommodate change.

The building’s exterior, however, is fixed - wrapped in an undulating glass skin that appears to move around the form. These undulations, resulting from solar analysis, reduce the building’s solar heat gain while providing panoramic views out to the surrounding campus and inward to a central courtyard. The building’s daylight is harvested to further reduce energy consumption and the mechanical systems employ additional energy saving strategies. As a result, the facility is anticipating LEED Gold Certification - communicating to students and faculty that innovation is, by necessity, sustainable.