We wanted to provide a lot of visibility for the BIDC, hence the extensive use of glass. We wanted the outside to flow in and the inside to flow out. A goal was for students walking by to see what is going on inside of the facility and be drawn into it. Similarly, for students designing and creating inside the facility to receive inspiration from the outside.
An overarching concept for design was to capture the word “Innovation”. The building should speak to innovation in terms of its expression in both the exterior and interior appearance. The angles of the building, the orientation of the stairs, the canted glass on the 2nd floor speak to innovation and aesthetics which are all part of design. The use of finish materials inside the building also speaks to the materials being used to build projects inside the center such as wood and steel.
— Robert J. Frosch, Senior Associate Dean of Facilities and Operations College of Engineering, Professor of Civil Engineering