Oregon State University Learning Innovation Center

Corvallis, OR
Oregon State University’s Learning Innovation Center is a hub for multidisciplinary interaction.

Design elements reflect the fields of study within each of OSU’s 12 colleges, enhancing sense of place and belonging for all building users.

OSU Design Team Engagement

Building Section with Palette Application

Graphic Location Plan Diagram

The Learning Innovation Center is designed to promote a community of success—drawing energy and inspiration from students, educators, and the institution to impact the world positively. Informed by OSU’s Signature Areas of Distinction—innovation and creativity, health and wellness, and sustainability and resilience—Knot’s experiential graphics for the new building were developed using core organizing principles focused on creating a community of success.

From the outset, the Learning Innovation Center was destined to be a groundbreaking design. The building’s design emerged from a desire to establish a new paradigm on university campuses, configured after in-depth discussions with educators on how to re-imagine the learning experience. Home for OSU’s Honors College, the Learning Innovation Center also serves every college within the University.

With 2,300 classroom seats in 14 unique settings and 640 seats of informal learning space, the Learning Innovation Center is a hub for multi-disciplinary interaction. Whether students are learning through each other in break-out areas or learning from educators in 600- and 300-seat arena classrooms, the Learning Innovation Center seeks to create engaging interactions. Configured to host the latest technology, the classrooms allow teaching in the round. The Parliament classroom draws from its British counterpart as a forum to encourage debate and conversation.

Working with building designer Bora, Knot’s experiential design team used the organizing principles of transformation and evolution, a community of success, and OSU’s impact on the world as the foundation for the development of placemaking graphics. The University’s 12 colleges served as an inspiration to visually convey the themes behind these organizing principles. Knot deploys these experiential elements throughout the building, classroom entries, and other prominent locations.
The experiential graphics connect OSU students to the outside world, propelling students to think beyond themselves to become members of a global community.

The classroom designs reflect the need for shared content and for students to learn in various formats. OSU students who spend time in the Learning Innovation Center find inspiration from the building itself and Knot-designed visual communications that convey an inspired worldview.

At Oregon State University’s Learning Innovation Center, what begins in the classroom could someday change the world.

Size
126,000 sq ft
Cost
$65 million
Owner
Oregon Sate University
Architect
Bora Architecture & Interiors
The excitement about this building has been spreading all over campus. Students are actually looking forward to attending a lecture … and that’s rare. I’m so happy to be a Beaver today!

Cassie Huber, President, Associated Students of Oregon State University