Innovation and Discovery Center Earns Montgomery Award from County
The award recognizes and promotes high quality planning and design within Montgomery County, Pa., as well as the commitment of municipalities, organizations and professionals to the county’s enhancement.
“We are extremely honored to have been selected for this award,” Ursinus President Brock Blomberg said. “The IDC was many years in the making and a significant collective effort by a multitude of people, including faculty, staff and our architectural firm for this project, Ellenzweig. Very careful contemplation was put into developing a building that would not only benefit our students, but also the broader community.”
The annual Montgomery Awards Program promotes awareness of outstanding design and innovative planning in the county community by recognizing successful land developments, revitalization efforts, open space enhancements, environmental sustainability and transportation improvements, as well as the citizens and organizations that have made significant and sustained contributions to planning. Blomberg received the Montgomery Award on behalf of the college at a presentation on Wednesday, November 13.
Opened in fall 2018, the IDC offers 42,500 square feet of new space where students can collaborate and learn across disciplines. It incorporates advanced functionality for teaching, laboratory work, observations, creative brainstorming and student-faculty research. It is also home to two of Ursinus’s three interdisciplinary academic centers—the Parlee Center for Science and the Common Good and the U-Imagine Center for Integrative and Entrepreneurial Studies.
The facility represented Ursinus’s first building project in 14 years and was designed to seamlessly bridge the gap between two existing buildings on campus—Pfahler Hall and Thomas Hall. Although the IDC does feature several science research laboratories equipped with state-of-the-art technology, its open, non-programmed spaces, nooks and study areas also have become extremely popular with students, faculty and staff from all fields of study. The project was carefully developed to match the future vision for Ursinus and its educational mission in the liberal arts.
