Elon, NC | 60,000 SF

The goal for this project was to create the new home for Elon University’s growing business program with a design that supports the Elon’s student-focused approach to education. Spillman Farmer Architects’ challenge was to create energizing spaces that promoted the program’s goal of “student engagement” within a traditional shell.

The exterior of the new business school is inspired by the Georgian/Federal architecture of the surrounding campus buildings and continues the design of the Academic Village of which it is part. Inside, the three-story 60,000 SF facility is anything but traditional. The spaces are open and filled with natural light. A two-story lobby and main hall lead to a three-story atrium capped with a skylight. Here, faculty offices are arranged in a half-circle and open onto a quiet study area adjacent to the atrium – a floor plan that fosters interaction between students and faculty.

The facility accommodates a digital theatre that is wired for video conferencing and multimedia presentations (previous page), a finance center that provides real-time data from global financial markets, moot court classrooms, tiered large-group presentation rooms, seminar rooms, and large and small classroom and breakout rooms designed to encourage group discussion and activities.

“Wow, what a building! Each day I must pinch myself and make sure this is reality. … Simply stated, there is no business school like the Ernest A. Koury Sr. Business Center in the world. …The architects were responsible for designing a unique structure that would do for student engagement what was not evident elsewhere. And boy, did they succeed! Student engagement with its many areas for students is what this building is all about.”Elon University Dean of the Love School of Business (Emeritus)