Creativity and Innovation District

About
The new Creativity and Innovation District (CID) on the eastern edge of campus will cultivate a community of creation and innovation. The district will make the most of existing programs and facilities already in the area, including:
Several of the buildings will retain their traditional functions while providing additional spaces that foster creativity and innovation. The Media Building and the Media Building Annex will be allocated to the district. University Relations personnel in those buildings are relocating to the University Gateway Center to accommodate the expansion.
Residence Hall and Living-Learning Communities
The CID residence hall will offer housing for approximately 600 students and a wide variety of academic, social, research, and collaboration spaces. The residence hall is intended for students enmeshed in the CID and designed around three living-learning communities (LLCs) for the arts and entrepreneurship — while also weaving in housing for varsity student-athletes.
The three LLCs, Studio 72, Innovate, and Rhizome, will give students the chance to specialize on a particular theme. Additionally, students can attend programming and events through the Faculty Principal, Dr. Tim Baird, as well as have access to the physical amenities located in the building. The CID residence hall project is anticipated to be completed in summer 2021.
Creation and Design
Professor Thanassis Rikakis

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.
Rikakis desired 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.
Visual openness, intentional pedestrian connections, and a variety of landscape spaces will connect the building and landscape to the larger CID district and its anticipated CID Green. The building’s massing and architecture will embed the building’s character firmly within the recognizable language unique to the Virginia Tech campus.
March 2021 update
Aerial vantage of the Creativity and Innovation District project in March 2021. Footage credit: W.M. Jordan and Meagan Williamson.
Gallery: May 2020 construction - residence hall




CID News:
- September 2020 - VT News: Tim Baird named faculty principal for the Creativity and Innovation District Living-Learning Community
- June 2019 - VT News: A new meaning of 'home' for Hokies
- July 2019 - Virginia Tech Magazine: A Destination For Creativity And Innovation
- May 2019 - VT News: Construction projects abound this summer on Virginia Tech's Blacksburg campus
- May 2019 - VMDO: Virginia Tech Creativity and Innovation District Living Learning Community
- November 2018 - Roanoke Times: Virginia Tech approves $105 million dorm to sit on former University Club site
- Virginia Tech Magazine: Creativity and Innovation District
Residence Hall Project Details
New construction:
234,000 gross square feet
Project status:
Estimated completion is summer 2021.
A/E:
VMDO Architects P.C.
Contractor:
WM Jordan
Hanbury
Contacts, questions:
Project Manager: Paul O'Keef
Media: Mark Owczarski
