WEST HAVEN, Conn.—A new science and technology building that has gone up at a New England college has been recognized for the innovation of its design and construction, which has earned it a LEED Gold Certified green building certification.

The recently completed Bergami Center for Science, Technology & Innovation was designed by Svigals + Partners, based out of nearby New Haven.  The 45,500-square-foot, three-story structure is designed with a central atrium at its center, thereby allowing it to function as a locus for social activity and encouraging interactions between students and faculty.  The building was named in honor of alumnus Samuel S. Bergami Jr. and his wife, Lois, longtime benefactors to the school.

To make the Bergami Center blend more seamlessly into the existing campus’s motif, the new building connects directly to the existing Buckman Hall, which is part of the school’s engineering school.  Portions of Buckman were renovated to allow the two buildings to perhaps appear as if they had always been joined at the very heart of the University of New Haven.

The Bergami Center is only the most recent collaboration between the college and Svigals + Partners after the designers previously envisioned the Engineering and Science University Magnet School (ESUMS), which sits adjacent to the main campus.

Julia McFadden, associate principal with Svigals + Partners, said that the Bergami Center was envisioned to “stimulate the kind of productive, collaborative interaction currently leading to breakthrough thinking in institutional, corporate and scientific settings.”  Accordingly, her firm’s plans entailed spaces where students can congregate to more easily swap ideas.  Furthermore, Svigals + Partners’ “thematic” elements are meant to echo the notion of starting out with ideas that eventually evolve into hypotheses and experiments.

And as the new facility indeed has the word “technology” in its name, it will be rife with 3D printers, a broadcast studio as well as a state-of-the-art auditorium that can double as a cinema when so needed.

Bergami Center represents the crown jewel in the university’s Charger Challenge, a slate of improvements and various other campus projects designed to coincide with the school’s centennial in 2020.

“At its core, the Bergami Center embodies our university-wide commitment to fostering innovation, cultivating creativity and ingenuity, and educating the next generation of problem solvers,” University of New Haven President Steven H. Kaplan said in a recent statement.  “In creating this space, we have strengthened our commitment to preparing our students to excel in the careers of the future.”

Svigals + Partners worked on the Bermani center in conjunction with general contractor Consigli Construction Co., civil engineer Westcott & Mapes and landscape architect Richter & Cegan.  Other partners included MEP engineers BVH Integrated Services, structural engineer Michael Horton Associates and energy analyst Karpmann Consulting.

“The university’s leaders understand that their students need to be prepared for life after college,” added McFadden. “Bergami Center combines advanced technology with the collaborative modes that produce transformative thinking, offering students a place to acquire both the skills and the competitive edge they will need.”

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WEST HAVEN, Conn. — The University of New Haven recently celebrated a milestone in the construction of its new Bergami Center for Science, Technology, and Innovation.

The state-of-the-art facility, scheduled to open in early 2020, will house engineering and science labs, technologically advanced collaborative classrooms, video production studios, an atrium/café, and space for multidisciplinary student and faculty collaboration.

A topping-off ceremony recently marked the hoisting of the final beam for the Bergami Center for Science, Technology, and Innovation, signifying the near-completion of the world-class facility that will enable students to take their pioneering work to an even higher level.

“By creating this space, we are strengthening our commitment to educating the world’s next generation of problem solvers and preparing them to excel in the careers of the future,” said University of New Haven President Steve Kaplan. “Ultimately, we have no greater charge than this.”

The 40,000-square-foot facility is the centerpiece of the university’s Charger Challenge: the campaign for the University of New Haven, which endeavors to raise $100 million before 2020 to invest in student scholarships and the university’s culture of innovation.

The center is being named in honor of longtime university benefactors Samuel S. Bergami Jr. ’85 EMBA and Lois Bergami who ceremoniously signed the final beam that was hoisted and secured into place – topped with a tree for good luck.

“Founded nearly 100 years ago to meet the engineering and business needs of the region, the university now offers innovative and cutting-edge programs – such as cybersecurity, national security, data science, and biomedical engineering – that prepare our students for the careers of the future,” said Kaplan.

The facility is being built adjacent to Buckman Hall which houses the Tagliatela College of Engineering. It will serve as a primary point of contact for students from across the university interested in innovation and entrepreneurship. The building will be designed to help draw together resources from across the campus and to serve as a common space for students to develop and test ideas alongside their peers with mentorship from faculty, alumni, and corporate partners.

A central focus of the facility’s makerspace is providing tools and resources that enable students from across the university to work with industry partners to create prototypes of new ideas and innovative products.

More than one-third of building is “open space” that will foster idea exchange and teamwork. Instead of traditional faculty offices, it will feature co-working space to foster collaboration.

Designed by Svigals + Partners, this interdisciplinary building will serve as a central hub of activity between all of the University’s departments. At the heart of the Innovation Center is an atrium where students and administrators can gather together and collaborate.

“This building’s state-of-the-art science learning spaces, its technologically advanced ‘smart’ classrooms, and all of its additional pioneering features will provide an exceptional environment for our students to learn, create, and collaborate with each other,” said Kaplan. “Most importantly, it will provide even more opportunities for our students to develop the same forward-thinking mindset that Sam has demonstrated throughout his distinguished career. I am most grateful for Sam and Lois’s support, which is making this important initiative a reality.”

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NEW HAVEN, Conn. –– The Connecticut Building Congress (CBC) recognized the nationally renowned architecture, art and advisory firm Svigals + Partners of New Haven by awarding the firm for two of its projects based on team partnership and collaboration ––  one of which was a STEM school. The double CBC honors was presented at the organization’s 2018 Annual Project Team Awards Banquet on June 12 for “outstanding collaborative efforts” of the project teams, including the owner group, designers, construction firms and other participants.

The first-place award went to Svigals + Partners for its work on the Engineering and Science University Magnet School (ESUMS), a school that opened in 2017 and has become recognized as “an innovative makerspace campus” for grades 6-12. Gilbane Building Company of Providence, R.I., joined in as the construction manager partner, along with the client group that included the University of New Haven and the New Haven Board of Education. The unique collaboration resulted in a contemporary and advanced learning environment by consulting stakeholder groups, while even allowing students from the school to participate in the process through their Kids Build! Program, which helped them better understand the components of the building as it was being designed. Many of the ESUMS workshops, classrooms and lab rooms are enclosed with operable glass partitions, creating bright and inspiring learning spaces that can be opened up to adjacent hallways for larger informal gatherings and team-based work.

“This unique collaboration with the university and the school board has resulted in a state-of-the-art learning environment that affords greater access to educational resources for the more than 600 students it serves,” said Julia McFadden, AIA, associate principal with Svigals + Partners, in a statement. “Our team worked closely with multiple stakeholder groups to achieve ambitious results — a construction project emblematic of the New Haven Board of Education’s commitment to the community and to superior education.”

Creating flexible and accommodating classrooms was a key component of the design, with glass dividers opening up into hallway learning spaces that widen on each end, offering a space where ESUMS students can study or work together on comfortable chairs and couches. The engineering laboratories are equipped for innovative STEM education while offering views to the University of New Haven campus, with the idea of providing inspiration to the students’ pursuit of a continued education. The building is designed to join prototyping technology with CLABs located throughout the school with a central makerspace accessible in the heart of the building.

The five-story facility offers boundless access to educational resources for their 600-student body, and a first-hand learning representation for STEM education, featuring state-of-the-art labs, computer and 3-D printers. Svigals + Partners designed ESUMS to match the school’s rigorous science and technology curriculum while also incorporating a special focus on integrating arts education. The out-stretched, cantilevered wings are made up of high-performance glass and louvered blinds to help regulate solar heat gain. The exterior also includes sculptures bearing the faces of inventors and scientists from the area, including Eli Whitney and A.C. Gilbert. The design element was specifically tailored with the ESUMS curriculum in mind, which encourages proficiency in self-discipline, critical-thinking, open-mindedness, risk-taking and creative problem solving.

“ESUMS is a wonderful example of what can take place when local municipalities, the state and higher education collaborate to create a school that is the first of its kind in Connecticut. This innovative school will enable generations of students to become tomorrow’s leaders in a wide array of scientific and technological fields, and it will directly benefit the citizens of our region, our state and our nation.” said Steven H. Kaplan, the president of the University of New Haven, in a statement.

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