The State University of New York (SUNY) at New Paltz has broken ground on a $14 million Engineering Innovation Hub (EIH) building.
The university says the two-story 19,500-square-foot facility will enhance its mechanical engineering program and house the headquarters and laboratories of the university’s Hudson Valley Advanced Manufacturing Center (HVAMC), which is the university's 3D design and printing program.
The hub will provide space for potential business partners under the state’s START-UP NY program, and serve as a business incubator for technology and engineering startups in the mid-Hudson Valley. The building is designed to achieve LEED Silver sustainability certification.
“The new Engineering Innovation Hub will help support and diversify the college’s engineering programs and address a critical shortage in engineers needed to serve advanced manufacturing interests in the region," says SUNY New Paltz President Donald P Christian.
The entrance lobby on the first floor of the hub will provide gathering space for students—computers, lounge-style seating and whiteboards are available for students to work and collaborate. the first floor also will have incidental seating niches within the hallways and along the windows, where students can work informally.
The second floor will have a smaller lounge at the end of the main corridor, eight faculty offices, an open office space for START-UP NY, a 300-square foot conference room, three research labs, and a 1,200-square foot computer lab.
The building site, on SUNY New Paltz’s main campus, is a former parking lot near the existing engineering building, Resnick Hall. The hub has been designed so it can be expanded to the east if the program’s growth requires more space.
The project was made possible by Governor Andrew Cuomo’s NYSUNY2020 Challenge Grant competition, in which SUNY New Paltz was awarded $10 million for its plans to improve economic development in New York State. The university also received $1 million through the Governor’s Mid-Hudson Regional Economic Development Council’s annual Consolidated Funding Application.
The architect is Urbahn Architects, and the builder is PC Construction.
