When Drexel University came to us in 2013, they had a problem. One of the
best undergraduate engineering programs in the country was completely
disconnected from itself. Freshman and faculty were spread all over campus
in small labs and classrooms with insufficient equipment and no cohesive
infrastructure. Our solution? Turn a 55,000-square-foot newspaper printing
warehouse into Drexel University’s Innovation Studio—a central engineering
hub complete with laboratories, workshops, lounges, teaching labs, offices,
and research space. For this design, we strived to make every part of The
Innovation Studio a functional workspace. Along with an open floor plan that
included concrete floors, high ceilings, exposed ventilation and LED lighting,
we implemented writable walls, acoustical dividers and movable tables. The
space was constructed to house large-scale, state-of-the-art engineering
equipment like 3D printers, welding and electrical testing machines, and a wet lab.