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Western Mass Building Wins International Architecture Award

A Western Massachusetts school has one of the most beautiful campus buildings in the world, according to a panel of international architecture judges.

Isenberg School of Management Business Innovation Hub at UMass Amherst

Isenberg School of Management Business Innovation Hub at UMass Amherst

Photo Credit: UMass Amherst
Isenberg School of Management Business Innovation Hub at UMass Amherst

Isenberg School of Management Business Innovation Hub at UMass Amherst

Photo Credit: UMass Amherst
Isenberg School of Management Business Innovation Hub at UMass Amherst

Isenberg School of Management Business Innovation Hub at UMass Amherst

Photo Credit: UMass Amherst
Isenberg School of Management Business Innovation Hub at UMass Amherst

Isenberg School of Management Business Innovation Hub at UMass Amherst

Photo Credit: UMass Amherst
Isenberg School of Management Business Innovation Hub at UMass Amherst

Isenberg School of Management Business Innovation Hub at UMass Amherst

Photo Credit: UMass Amherst
Isenberg School of Management Business Innovation Hub at UMass Amherst

Isenberg School of Management Business Innovation Hub at UMass Amherst

Photo Credit: UMass Amherst

There were six Prix Versailles Awards for Campuses given out in 2020 worldwide and the Isenberg School of Management Busines Innovation Hub at the University of Massachusetts Amherst is one of them.

An addition to the Isenberg School of Management building, the hub was completed in 2018. It cost about $62 million to build and features three-story-tall, copper-clad fins that create a vertical lattice for the glass outer wall. The hub added 70,000 square feet of classroom, lab, student-facing, and office space to the building and doubles as an event center.

This year, in particular, the Prix Versailles said that it set out to honor “everyday architecture [that] can be a lever for sustainable development.” A place where ecological - the green economy - dimensions intersect with the so-called “purple” social and cultural economy, the Prix Versailles said. 

Other campus buildings that won awards are Yale University’s new Science Building in New Haven, Connecticut; the life sciences building at the University of Melbourne in Australia; the Haibing Center at Nankai University in China; the student center at the University of London; and the school of design and environment at the National University of Singapore.

Launched in 2015, the Prix Versailles international architecture awards are meant to celebrate the connection of culture and commercial through construction and design. Annual awards are given out in categories such as shops, restaurants, airports, and malls.

“Because the Prix is associated with Versailles, we want that world-renowned symbol of beauty and elegance to serve not as a model but as a beacon or impetus for quality commercial architecture, today and tomorrow,” the award committee said in a statement. 

To see photos of all the winning architecture, visit the Prix Versailles online.

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