Colorado School of Mines Begins Construction on Labriola Innovation Hub

Colorado School of Mines began construction in January of 2022 on the $18.6 million Labriola Innovation Hub in Golden, Colo. Designed by OZ Architecture, the 37,000-sf building will provide collaborative environments for hands-on learning and discovery. Featuring maker spaces, design classrooms, and team project spaces, the interdisciplinary structure will enable faculty, students, alumni, and industry partners to develop new solutions for critical societal problems. Connecting and engaging the entire campus community, the facility will support both design-build and computational methods of exploration. Saunders Construction is the general contractor for the project, which is expected to attain LEED sustainable design certification. Occupancy is slated for January of 2023.

Catalyzing creativity and invention, the hub represents the second phase of the university's Entrepreneurship and Innovation Ecosystem. McNeil Hall, which opened in fall of 2020, is focused on learning, while the planned Beck Venture Center will focus on launching. This three-story, 33,000-sf business incubator will accommodate a pitch deck, meeting rooms, an event venue, classrooms, leasable offices, and a café. Targeting LEED Gold certification, the net-zero carbon structure will leverage all-electric building systems and a ground-source heat pump to achieve exceptional energy performance. Groundbreaking is expected in spring of 2022 with occupancy in fall of 2023.