Purdue University, The Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship

West Lafayette, Indiana

Firm

Goody Clancy and Associates

Client

Purdue University

Area

30,235 sq.ft.

Total Cost

$5,800,000

Completion Date

04/2004

The Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship, the first building to give form to Discovery Park, Purdue’s focus of research and innovation, offers a physical and symbolic entry to the newly created precinct.
Master planned and designed as a space for collaboration and exchange among private researchers, faculty, and Indiana citizens and businesses, the center provides a graceful transition from the traditional tile-roofed, red brick buildings that characterize most of Purdue’s existing campus to the modern Discovery Park.
The building’s brick volumes face east toward the existing campus, and its glass and larger-scaled aluminum-clad volumes emerge to the west, setting an aesthetic precedent for the distinctly modern materials and forms envisioned for the evolving park.
A tall glass monitor over the entrance aligns with the central axis of Discovery Mall. Lighted from inside at night, it glows as a landmark to mark the center’s presence and link it to the main campus.
Burton Morgan is both a gathering and research space, and features labs, presentation space, a cafe and a sequence of small-scale common spaces shaped to encourage spontaneous, informal meetings and interaction.