
The major project of this studio was the design of a student oriented business incubator for one of the three UB campuses. Today, more and more universities are establishing student-oriented incubators to help students prepare “start-up-culture” evolving in the business world. From a social perspective, such incubators can accelerate knowledge transfer from discoveries made by university faculty and researchers to real world problems. And, from an economic perspective, they also can increase the reputative of the university, help to attract good students and provide income from licensing or sale of intellectual property developed in university facilities. Thus the question explored in the studio was: “How can inclusive design facilitate invention, innovation and entrepreneurship for a diverse group of students, faculty and visitors?”
The project included research and analysis, visioning exercises, space programming and building design in collaboration with UB’s Capital Planning Group, Innovation HUB and other university units.