Design Statement

The design of the Manchester Innovation and Transit Hub (MITH) is influenced by Manchester’s history as rendered in the City Seal, with its depictions of both transportation and industry.

Manchester has been a center of innovation and enterprise since the Industrial Revolution; yet even with numerous start-ups, tech businesses and academic institutions the city could do more to promote and cultivate its innovation economy. As a major gateway to the city, MITH seeks to do this by incorporating an Innovation Hub into the multi-modal Transit Hub. The Innovation Hub houses a branch library, with focus on technology, business and arts; an Auditorium/Screening Room; and something sorely lacking in Manchester: a large Makerspace, with tools and resources open to the public.

Inspired by Manchester’s motto, Labor Vincit (Latin for “Labor Conquers”), the Makerspace is a focal point of the Commercial Street face of the building as well as the center of the Concourse of the Transit Hub. An atrium of the Makerspace, clad in red-tinted glass, pierces through the floor of the Concourse; a ramp leading to the pedestrian bridge and train platforms wraps around this atrium, encouraging commuters and new arrivals to Manchester to view the city at work.

Programmatically and formally, the building is further informed by the dramatic topography of the site and its urban setting. The Lower Level provides space for retail—something currently missing in the Millyard—along Commercial Street, as well as the Makerspace, Auditorium and Library. In conjunction with the main entrance at the Main Level, this provides the sort of street-level activity presently absent from Spring and Commercial Streets.

At the Main Level, the Transit Hub slopes up to the double-height Concourse, with direct access to intercity and local buses. A pedestrian bridge at the Mezzanine leads to the train platforms, and could be extended to a future rapid transit stop on Canal Street if service to the airport, SNHU and suburbs along I-93—as called for in the City’s 2006 Downtown Strategic Development Plan—is implemented in the future.

Office space for MITH and transit agencies is also provided at the Mezzanine, with space for roughly 400 cars on five parking levels above.

New traffic patterns on Bedford Street allow for bus platforms and a dedicated lane for buses, with space for taxis, ride-shares and drop-offs along Spring and Commercial Streets.

Like the program and form, the material choice is influenced by the setting and history of the city. A rust-colored wire mesh wrapper envelopes the building—the color paying homage to the red brick of the Millyard, while its sinuous shape reflects the dynamism of transportation and industry. The wrapper is practical as well, serving as both a sun-shading device around the glazed lower floors and an enclosure on the otherwise-open parking levels above. Informed by the contours of the site, the wrapper winds around the building, rising from a railing and awning above the Lower Level along Commercial Street to where it intersects with itself above the north-facing entry to the parking garage at the Main Level. At the main entrance at the corner of Spring and Bedford Streets, the wrapper peels up and away from the building to form a large awning overhanging the sidewalk.

In its form and function, MITH not only honors the heritage of Manchester; it encourages a vibrant future founded on the city’s dual legacy of connectivity and creativity.

Background

This project, submitted to the AIANH 2016 Emerging Professional Design Competition, builds on the required program for a transit center in downtown Manchester, N.H., with the addition of an innovation hub to promote and showcase the city’s tech startups, creative enterprises and academic institutions. Inspired by Manchester’s motto, Labor Vincit(Latin for “Labor Conquers”), the focal point of the innovation hub is a Makerspace, clad in red-tinted glass, that pierces through the transit concourse, encouraging commuters and new arrivals to Manchester to view the city at work. A rust-colored wire mesh wrapper envelopes the building—the color paying homage to the red brick of the surrounding Millyard, while its sinuous shape reflects the dramatic topography of the site, and the dynamism of transportation and industry.