The new Business Innovation Hub provides a 70,000 sf expansion to the existing University of Massachusetts Amherst’s Isenberg School of Management. The dynamic architecture, centered around a multi-story atrium, was designed in tandem with the site to maximize views and connections to everyday campus life. 90% of the buildings occupied spaces have exterior views, emphasizing a site design to be experienced both inside and out. 

A compact footprint helped maximize the open green space. Working with the UMass Amherst master plan, the design complements the culturally significant existing Fine Arts Center and Haigis Mall and provides walkable access to many campus amenities including four campus bus stops, the performing arts center and restaurants. Vehicular access, which can accommodate fire trucks and delivery vans to an existing parking area, was gracefully integrated into a large entry plaza focused on pedestrian circulation and gathering. A series of large granite sculptural bollards were designed to provide for impromptu seating opportunities, as well as provide protection from vehicles of the large glass floor to ceiling fenestration. The stark white granite of the bollards was extended into other site hardscape elements including seat wall benches and granite curbing.

A water efficient landscape, including ornamental warm and cool season grasses, provide seasonal interest and movement throughout the year. Existing trees, including a large pin oak on the south side of the building, were preserved to add scale and context to the building. New trees were selected and located with an eye for uniting the existing campus vernacular as well as strategically located for providing shade to south and west facing facades. An interior courtyard with 360 views extends the interior atrium space out into the landscape and was planted with a grove of Cypresses, selected to withstand the microclimate of the courtyard and exhibiting a high tolerance to wetness, compaction, heat and cold. In time, the reflections created by the fragmented glass fenestration of the building interior atrium will create a visual ‘forest’ within the courtyard.