Architecture firm touts highlights of Lehigh’s Business Innovation Building

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Philadelphia-based architectural firm, Voith and Mactavish Architects, VMA, said its newly completed Business Innovation Building on Lehigh University’s Asa Packer campus is now open.  

The firm said it designed the $35 million building to have the flexibility and technological readiness to enable Lehigh’s College of Business to prepare students for real-world exchange and collaboration. 

With the growth and expansion of Lehigh’s business programs, the school initially engaged VMA to conduct a feasibility study for the renovation of the existing Rauch Business Center and the construction of a new building catty-corner from Rauch, the company said.  

With the new Business Innovation Building, the school now supports a wider range of pedagogy and has provided a permanent home for the College of Business’ Vistex Institute for Executive Education. 

Built on a former parking lot, the 74,000-square-foot, 3-story Business Innovation Building houses four floors of student spaces, market research and computer labs, faculty offices, conference rooms, and video-ready, technology-equipped classrooms for remote, hybrid, and in-person classes. 

The building also has a dedicated suite for the College’s Executive Education program. It provides the school with 16 additional teaching spaces for its undergraduate and graduate programs and houses the Lehigh Ventures Lab, a business incubator for early-stage entrepreneurs. 

VMA said Lehigh’s Business Innovation Building was designed with a greater degree of technology than a typical college building. The Bosland Financial Services Lab on the first floor features a 6-foot by 20-foot LED display that can view multiple sources simultaneously.  

Specialized learning environments include a television studio and a one-touch video recording studio where students can practice for job interviews and professors can record lectures. 

VMA designed the building with multiple open spaces for students to gather and build a sense of community.  

The building’s lobby, which can fit 200 people, features a granite floor, high ceilings, and glass walls that allow for well-lit, full-height views of the campus, as well as views into other rooms inside. Its facade features fritted glass and automatic sensors that raise and lower shades according to the amount of direct sunshine.  

VMA completed the landscape design in association with Stimson Associates. The building is slated to be LEED Gold certified.