Innovation is a buzzy thing in architecture today. It's nearly impossible to avoid projects that claim to be purpose-built to spark the invention of new ideas, from individual buildings to campuses to entire city districts. But can you actually engineer innovation? Is it something that can be designed, or is this just another clever real estate marketing tactic?
The recently completed Pennovation Center in Philadelphia is the latest to be admitted into the Innovation Architecture Class. A renovation of a former factory, the project anchors the University of Pennsylvania's 23-acre Pennovation Works district, an area of the campus specifically designed to be the site where the next big thing is invented—and turned into a business.
