Planning Labs for Innovation

The Pennovation Center, a cornerstone building in the University of Pennsylvania’s 23-acre Pennovation Works District, began its 20th century life as a paint factory, and will continue its life in the 21st century as an idea factory. The centre provides robust, flexible laboratories to support entrepreneurs the centre hopes to attract.

HDR planners worked closely with the design team to ensure the science portion of the building encourages innovation in the same way seated workspaces and collaborative zones do. Initial fitout provides five BSL-2 capable individual incubator laboratories, with space available for an additional five upon demand. A central support zone on the floor provides shared laboratory support resources such as a freezer farm, glasswash/autoclave, tissue culture and molecular biology instrumentation. Access to these centralised support services is vital to up-and-coming startup science ventures.