University of Massachusetts, Lowell, Innovation Hub + M2D2 Labs

Lowell, Massachusetts

Firm

ICON Architecture

Client

University of Massachusetts, Lowell

Area

22,000 sq.ft.

Total Cost

$4,250,000

Completion Date

06/2015

Open in June 2015, the UML Innovation Hub + M2D2 Labs occupies the top two floors of the historic Freudenburg Building in the Hamilton Canal District. The UMass Lowell Innovation Hub fosters innovation, entrepreneurship, economic development and job creation. It does this by linking the region’s technology startups and entrepreneurs to resources that facilitate the development, manufacturing and commercialization of their respective innovations. The Innovation Hub hosts technology-based startup companies based on UML technology as well as innovations and concepts developed in the larger, regional entrepreneurial community.
As part of ICON’s ongoing work in the District, the firm restored the exterior of the existing building and developed the UML spaces. The UML project focuses on creating varied and technologically rich environments for collaboration and to provide labs for biomedical startups. The project is organized to create a series of zones or “neighborhoods” with varying furnishings and acoustics (noisy, quiet, semipublic, and semiprivate). The “noisy neighborhoods” are near the entrances, food vending and restrooms.
Rooms in noisy neighborhoods have a mix of movable tables and chairs that can be stored to create large function rooms. For instance, on the third floor the large conference room has folding glass walls that, when open, create a reception and presentation space. The “quiet neighborhoods” are situated on the opposite sides of the floor plan (with minimal pass-through circulation). The third floor also includes an acoustically and environmentally separated “maker space.” The fourth floor includes open and semiprivate workspaces, an open research lab, and a biomedical lab suite.