The design intention was to create a 'hub of innovation on UVA grounds that would bring the various disciplines together in order to foster the generation and development of ground-breaking ideas and technologies that can only come from true and open cross-discipline collaboration.  Sited on the crest of a hill between the Schools of Medicine, Engineering, and Arts and Sciences, the Center for Innovation would serve as a common ground, accessible by all, day and night.  The site itself while situated between two areas of activity and density is entirely suburban in character.  To counter this, we conceived of the building as a series of stacked bars, with circulation spaces in between.  Cutting through perpendicular to the grain were to be entry points and passages that would connect classrooms to cafes and libraries and workshops to laboratory spaces; creating unexpected eddy spaces where traffic slowed and therefore ripe for chance encounter and spontaneous conversation.