OZ Architecture has announced the successful completion of the Beck Venture Center and the Labriola Innovation Hub, both at the Colorado School of Mines in Golden. The completion of these OZ-designed facilities will foster a unique ecosystem of innovation and entrepreneurship on the Mines campus. These buildings create opportunities for the campus community, supporting the student’s path from their first-year Cornerstone projects to their Capstone Design projects and beyond. The facilities are designed to facilitate cross-disciplinary collaboration and to showcase student innovation on campus.
At the corner of 17th Street and Washington Avenue, the 31,000-square-foot Beck Venture Center connects the business and academic worlds, with collaborative office and workspace for student, alumni and faculty entrepreneurs located on the second and third stories, with more public-facing gathering and event space on the ground floor.
The Labriola Innovation Hub features specialized classrooms and state-of-the-art prototyping and fabrication labs for students to build, test and refine their ideas, as well as pursue their independent passion projects. The complex comprises the 37,000-square-foot Hub, as well as a 9,000-square-foot shop building and a 3,000-square-foot faculty office.
“The completion of the Beck Venture Center and the Labriola Innovation Hub highlights our commitment to creating spaces that inspire and empower the next generation of innovators,” said David Schafer, principal at OZ Architecture. “Our team at OZ is proud to have collaborated closely with the Colorado School of Mines to create these dynamic spaces that foster creativity, entrepreneurship and innovation through the student journey on campus.”
These facilities are poised to become essential resources for Colorado School of Mines students. Virtually every student is expected to utilize the Labriola Innovation Hub for prototyping and experimentation, and through the Mines Venture Program at the Beck Venture Center, students will gain the support to enable them to launch businesses around their ideas.
To celebrate the completion of these exciting projects, a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Labriola Innovation Hub was held in February, and a ceremony for the Beck Venture Center in early April, marking the official opening of these cutting-edge facilities and signaling a new era of creativity and collaboration for students at Colorado School of Mines.
