UW Milwaukee Lubar Center for Entrepreneurship & Welcome Center/ Milwaukee,WI

Continuum Architects + Planners was tasked with designing a new and inviting Welcome Center and Entrepreneurship Center for UWM. The Welcome Center offers a variety of special tours and campus visits, serving a full range of prospective students. The Lubar Center for Entrepreneurship provides a visible and vibrant home for collaborative, interdisciplinary innovation and entrepreneurship programs across campus. Both Centers are fueled by an in-house outpost of the Grind coffee shop. 

The two-story facility is sited with exceptional visibility at the gateway to UWM, squarely at the crossroads between the Humanities and Engineering quads along the campus’ main east-west path. Public outdoor spaces packed with WIFI have been provided to enhance student life. Spaces within the Lubar Center for Entrepreneurship are designed to be flexible and adaptable now and over time. Included are spaces for collaborative activities, project-based rooms, and active learning environments. The more flexible and modern spaces of the Welcome Center offer new programming opportunities.  

The new facility is intended to positively enhance the individual missions of both the Welcome Center and the Lubar Center for Entrepreneurship by creating a place where a symbiotic relationship between both Centers will flourish. The Welcome Center and its visitors benefit from direct observation of the energy and activity occurring in the Lubar Center for Entrepreneurship, giving visitors a clear understanding of some of the exciting opportunities that await them at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee. The Lubar Center for Entrepreneurship benefits from exposure to the many Welcome Center visitors who will take with them an enhanced understanding of and enthusiasm for the entrepreneurial opportunities available at UWM and the positive impacts for our region.