Purdue Technology Center Aerospace, Purdue Research Foundation

American Structurepoint, in design collaboration with the Purdue Research Foundation (PRF), provided architectural, structural, and interior design services for the first new facility in the Purdue Research Park Aerospace District. The 52,000-sft facility houses a research and development team for Rolls-Royce and features incubator space for other companies interested in aerospace and aviation development.

PRF owns the building and leases a wing of it to Rolls-Royce. The aviation giant develops and tests jet engine components at the facility, collaborates with Purdue researchers through corporate partnerships, and recruits future talent of Purdue students and graduates.

American Structurepoint’s design solution embraces both the campus feel of the university as well as the high-tech nature of research and design. Through using brick, metal panels, and glass, an aesthetic merging these two ideas is born. At the corner of SR 231 and State Street, this new facility creates a focal point and gateway to the research park. The curved glass wall with winged-shape roof reveals a 2-story lobby that displays an aerospace mural. The corner element allows the aesthetic of the campus and the aesthetic of high-tech R&D to come together harmoniously.

The entry sequence to the facility highlights all avenues of aerospace through the mural that leads you through the building. When you enter the front doors, the mural depicting images of Purdue’s history of aerospace leads you down the corridor to the main reception desk and lobby. There, you see a large mural that highlights both Purdue and Rolls-Royce aerospace items. This majestic mural also is visible from the roadway.

We designed the atrium of this flagship building as a focal point that brings the high-tech and research worlds together while the entire space fosters collaboration and innovation. Every aspect of the facility results from the hand-in-hand collaboration between our design team and the Purdue Research Foundation and creates a standard for future economic development in the area.

The 980-acre Purdue Research Park Aerospace District took flight to advance public and private aerospace research and development and aviation innovation. It encompasses the Purdue University Airport, Purdue Aviation, Mach 6 Quiet-Flow Ludwieg Tube Wind Tunnel and the Maurice J. Zucrow Laboratories.