Virginia Tech Creativity and Innovation District LLC

Virginia Tech Creativity + Innovation District Living-Learning Community

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Vi rginia Tech Crea t ivit y + In nova t ion Dis t r ic t L ivin g-Lea rn i n g Co mmu n i ty

DISTRICTS Credit: Sasaki

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V i rg i ni a Te c h Crea ti v i ty + I n n o v a ti o n D i s tri c t L i v i n g-Lea rn i n g Commu n i ty

Creativity and Innovation District Virginia Tech’s Creativity and Innovation District (CID) is envisioned as a signature inter-disciplinary innovation hub located at the eastern edge of campus, where Virginia Tech meets downtown Blacksburg. The district will contain existing arts facilities including the Moss Arts Center, the Institute for Creativity, Arts, and Technology, the School of Performing Arts, and the School of Visual Arts. The CID will also include student life facilities such as the Squires Student Center, Newman Library, and the Graduate Life Center at Donaldson Brown, as well as a new living-learning residence hall. The district’s location near downtown Blacksburg will energize innovation – from idea creation to commercialization – and create a physical space that leverages both creative and entrepreneurial activities.

Ben Knapp, the director of the Institute for Creativity, Arts, and Technology, shares: “Innovation is a process that begins with imagination and creativity and leads to realworld impact. The district will support this work, providing collaborative facilities, tools, and technologies – from virtual environments to maker spaces – to translate ideas into commercial offerings.”

Bringing students and faculty together from different corners of campus, while also inviting in collaborators from local and global communities, the CID will create a place for students, faculty, and external partners to advance experimentation involving the arts and technology. Echoing the vibrancy of the district, the new CID residence hall will provide a playful, creative, and inspiring environment with a range of indoor and outdoor spaces for the arts, performance, education, demonstration, and research – all rooted in a residential environment that builds identity and a sense of belonging for residents.

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Vi rginia Tech Crea t ivit y + In nova t ion Dis t r ic t L ivin g-Lea rn i n g Co mmu n i ty

CID Living-Learning Community VMDO oversaw the design of the criteria documents for the 596-bed CID residence hall, currently slated for completion by the summer of 2021. With over 23,000 square feet of public space devoted to artistic-, performance-, and research-based experiences will support engagement and meaningful connections within the CID, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, and beyond.

The residence hall is intended for students enmeshed in the CID (at the intersection of design, technology, and the visual and performing arts) and designed around three living-learning communities (LLCs) for the arts, deign, and entrepreneurship. Open to students across campus, the Studio 72 LLC is tailored for those who want to make the arts a pivotal part of their Virginia Tech experience. Rhizome LLC helps students explore opportunities to shape the built and natural environment to bring about change. Meanwhile, the Innovate LLC is geared for those who want to gain insight into the entrepreneurial process.

Critical to these LLCs and Virginia Tech’s residence life programs are apartments that allow live-in faculty to be fully immersed in the interdisciplinary activity within the district and engage with students in ways that enrich the dynamic academic community. Common spaces and strategies for interconnected circulation will encourage students to interact at every scale of the building and contribute to a high level of energy and engagement.

The building and landscape are designed to create a strong sense of place in alignment with the new Virginia Tech Master Plan. Visual openness, intentional pedestrian connections, and a variety of landscape spaces will connect the building and landscape to the larger CID district and its anticipated CID Green. The building’s massing and architecture will embed the building’s character firmly within the recognizable language unique to the Virginia Tech.

V i rg i ni a Te c h Crea ti v i ty + I n n o v a ti o n D i s tri c t L i v i n g-Lea rn i n g Commu n i ty

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V iew of Creat i vi t y + I nn ova t ion Ga l l e r y , E x hibit ion, a nd Co lla b o ra ti o n S p a ce (fronting f ut ure CI D Gree n )

“ The whole Creativity and Innovation District is going to become something quite incredible as the design, the architecture, and arts part of campus start to move into this new space. There really is no precedent across the country that is doing this kind of thing and really merging town, gown, and live-learn community all in this really incredible design involving the arts and innovation space”

Ben K na pp Fo u nd i ng D i re c t o r, I ns t i t u t e fo r C re at i v i ty, Ar ts , and Te c h n o l o gy ( ICAT) Virginia Tec h

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Vi rginia Tech Crea t ivit y + In nova t ion Dis t r ic t L ivin g-Lea rn i n g Co mmu n i ty

A Destination for Interdisciplinary Collaboration More than just places to sleep, residence halls are multi-use, 24/7 hubs of activity that provide an ideal environment to integrate social and academic experiences. From fostering student-driven experimental projects to hosting informal social activities, residence halls offer students a sense of belonging through the opportunity to live and learn in a shared community. This sense of shared purpose is key to student success and well-being and will serve students long after college and into their careers.

Living-learning communities organized around themes or topics that matter to an institution offer one way to draw students out of their routines, incite creative collisions, and advance institutional change. In the case of Virginia Tech, LLCs such as the Creativity and Innovation District LLC reinforce district-level strategic planning goals as well as Virginia Tech’s institutional vision for a globally-engaged community that prioritizes experiential learning, applied research, and interdisciplinary partnerships to advance dialogue and problem-solving beyond boundaries.

V i rg i ni a Te c h Crea ti v i ty + I n n o v a ti o n D i s tri c t L i v i n g-Lea rn i n g Commu n i ty

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First Floor Plan

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10 Fabrication Lab 11 Wood Shop 12 CNC Shop

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Vi rginia Tech Crea t ivit y + In nova t ion Dis t r ic t L ivin g-Lea rn i n g Co mmu n i ty

V i rg i ni a Te c h Crea ti v i ty + I n n o v a ti o n D i s tri c t L i v i n g-Lea rn i n g Commu n i ty

Collaborative Delivery The CID LLC proposes a truly transdisciplinary nexus to draw students, faculty, and external partners together from a broad range of disciplines – and strategically aligns collaborative facilities, resources, tools, technologies to enable this community to thrive as a cross-cutting living-learning environment. To bring this ambitious vision to light, Virginia Tech sought a delivery process that similarly bridged communities to leverage design quality and programmatic innovation. The multi-staged and integrated process involved master planning and initial programming (by Sasaki), followed by criteria design and programming (by VMDO), and delivered through the design-build team (of Hanbury-W. M. Jordan).

As the criteria designer, VMDO upheld Virginia Tech’s standards for quality design and architectural character while identifying opportunities for innovation and value that helped realize construction cost savings and creative solutions. In developing the program, VMDO captured the University’s goals and objectives with the level of detail and clarity needed to serve as a reliable guide throughout design and construction.

VMDO is serving as the Owner’s advocate in upholding allegiance to the criteria design documents thorough the design-build delivery process.

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VMDO Architects vmdo.com | 434.296.5684 200 E Market St Charlottesville, VA 22902 2000 Pennsylvania Ave, Suite 7000 Washington, DC 20006

For more information on Higher Education work please contact:

For more information on the CID LLC please contact:

Joe Atkins, AIA, LEED AP BD+C atkins@vmdo.com

Dade Van Der Werf, AIA, LEED AP BD+C vanderwerf@vmdo.com

Michele Westrick, AIA, LEED AP BD+C westrick@vmdo.com

Frances Watson Lengowski, AIA, LEED AP BD+C lengowski@vmdo.com

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