Here, the university is mapping out a playground for the innovators, inventors, and makers who will build the world of tomorrow. Finding solutions for complex problems that range from water conservation and food supply chains to energy demands and transportation congestion will require expertise from many sources. For a global community, there is no one-size-fits-all strategy. By creating spaces that bring together poets and engineers and artists and chemists and historians, Virginia Tech is leveling the field, advancing cross-cultural research and development, and emphasizing the combined strengths of science, technology, business, and the humanities.

The $250 million Creativity and Innovation District capitalizes on existing programs and facilities while creating new spaces and making large-scale changes to others. The goal: to galvanize innovation—from conception to commercialization.

“The whole Creativity and Innovation District is becoming something quite incredible,” said Ben Knapp, founding executive director of the Institute for Creativity, Arts, and Technology (ICAT). “I don’t really know of any other university district across the country that is merging town, gown, and live-learn communities that span the arts, design, the sciences, and engineering.”

Virginia Tech’s Creativity and Innovation District will be anchored by the Moss Arts Center; the Institute for Creativity, Arts, and Technology, which includes the Center for Human-Computer Interaction and the Center for Research on SEAD Education; the School of Performing Arts, including Theatre 101; and the School of Visual Arts, including the Armory Gallery.

Squires Student Center, Newman Library, the Graduate Life Center at Donaldson Brown, and the Media Building will round out the district. Several will retain their traditional functions while offering enhanced spaces to foster creativity and innovation. The Media Building, however, will undergo a comprehensive renovation to support the initiative.

“What we’re developing with the physical district and technologies is all about student learning and giving students the opportunity to develop in creative ways,” said Ruth Waalkes, associate provost for the arts and executive director of the Moss Arts Center. “It’s really about being able to engage with people across difference. That can mean art students working with engineers or computer scientists or collaborating across different languages or cultural practices.”

Xindi Liu, an M.F.A. candidate, works on final touches to his project, “The ashes and the portal” in the Cyclorama at the Cube in the Moss Arts Center.

According to Cal Ribbens, head of the Department of Computer Science, “identifying a particular region of campus and intentionally creating space for this kind of learning will create more opportunities and a bigger impact that will affect entrepreneurship, partnerships with the private sector, and recruitment of talented students, staff, and faculty.

“[The district] engages students in tackling broad problems that span disciplines. It’s important for students to get exposure working with people who think differently, who communicate differently, because they’re going to be part of diverse teams throughout their working lives,” Ribbens said.

Although the Creativity and Innovation District exists in a defined location on campus, the environment supports technology and other features that reach far beyond Blacksburg.

“Bridge spaces” will allow companies, students, faculty, and other scholars to work in close proximity to create, incubate, and bridge ideas into viable businesses. The collaborations will connect to existing initiatives in Blacksburg, Roanoke, and the Northern Virginia.

“It’s not a district that says, ‘We’re going to do this particular project,’” said Knapp. “Instead, we’re saying, ‘If you’re interested in the creative process, from imagination to innovation, this is where you come to work with a like-minded community, no matter what your disciplinary origins.’”

The district was conceived by Thanassis Rikakis, professor of bioengineering and performing arts and former provost, as a geographic extension of President Tim Sands’ Beyond Boundaries vision—specifically the concept of students and faculty from a variety of backgrounds living and working together in a shared community. The idea was to combine areas of strength for Virginia Tech so that individuals working across disciplines can come together and create. Additionally, Rikakis wanted the district in Blacksburg to engage with Virginia Tech’s outposts in Roanoke and Northern Virginia.

“We created aspirational plans where the Creativity and Innovation District would become a key feeder of innovation talent for the metropolitan D.C. area, and the partnerships and resources that would develop in metropolitan D.C. would significantly support the district in Blacksburg.” Thanassis Rikakis, professor of bioengineering and performing arts

With a proven track record for projects that transcend traditional boundaries, ICAT stands as an example of how connections provide value for university researchers, students, and private partners. The institute fosters creativity and critical reflection in a living illustration of Sands’ Beyond Boundaries vision.

Attracting scholars from around the globe who work side-by-side in such campus facilities such as the Cube at the Moss Arts Center, ICAT extends the reach of the district to the world. In April, ICAT partnered with the Smithsonian Lemmelson Center for Invention and Innovation to present the ACCelerate: ACC Smithsonian Creativity and Innovation Festival at the National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C. The festival showcased creative projects emerging from the nine public and six private schools that make up the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Additionally the Creativity and Innovation District will expand creative influences from the eastern side of campus. A 596-bed residence hall is among the buildings planned for the area. The new construction, which is expected to be finished by summer 2021, will house two living-learning communities: Studio 72, for students interested in the arts and design, and Innovate, for those who want to pursue entrepreneurship. Student-athletes will also live in the residence hall.

Nicky Cruz, a rising junior pursuing degrees in fashion merchandising and design and multimedia journalism with a minor in popular culture, lived in Studio 72, which is currently located in Pritchard Hall, during the 2018-19 academic year.

“Studio 72 is open to all majors, so we have a wide range of students studying different subjects,” Cruz said. “A result of this wide mix of majors is being able to see how different people process and experience creativity and art. Seeing how art, science, engineering, or any other major differs with respect for creative process has introduced me to new ways of thinking and new points of view.”

Ella Davis, a rising junior majoring in geoscience, chose Studio 72 as a way to keep in touch with her artistic interests even as she pursued a science degree. Davis said the blend of students pushes her to communicate more effectively about her scientific work and has helped her better understand how concepts transcend disciplines.

“I think my favorite thing I’ve discussed with other people so far is how we all use very similar vocabularies, but we all have situational definitions,” Davis said. “How I talk about the geometry of rock beds and faults uses the same words an architecture major might when talking about the geometry of their designs, but we mean two completely different things. It’s the same situation when I talk to some of my more musically inclined friends about styles of music versus styles of dance.”

The new residence hall will boast 30,000 square feet of public space devoted to artistic, performance, and research-based experiences to support engagement and meaningful connections within the district, Blacksburg, and the world.

Plans for the facility include apartments for residential faculty. The special living arrangement, which exists in other environments across campus, will allow instructors to be fully immersed and to engage with students in ways that will enrich the community.

While the eastern side of campus is abuzz with construction and planning activities associated with the developing district, Virginia Tech leaders, faculty, and researchers are already recognizing the value of these creative collisions. The resulting projects and their outcomes will define and describe success for the district.