Collaborative Learning and Innovation Center to finish renovation in March

The renovation of the Collaborative Learning and Innovation Center (CLIC), which will house classrooms, lab spaces, seminar rooms and offices, is set to be ready for use by late spring, according to Barbara Stein, strategic capital programs director at Tufts. Construction on the new center will finish in March, she said. 

The building, located at 574 Boston Ave. in Medford, has been under renovation since August 2013, according to Stein.

“[The CLIC is] going to provide a great event space," Stein said. "There’s a wonderful open corridor on the top floor that has light coming into it, and it backs up onto another big amenity that’s important, a [classroom] that can also be used for events. It’s going to have a reading lounge and there will be a lounge area on the ground floor as well."

According to Stein, the CLIC will hold the Department of Physics and Astronomy, the Department of Occupational Therapy, the Community Health program, the Entrepreneurial Leadership Studies program, Human Factors Engineering and part of the Child Study and Human Development department.

“[The university] wants to promote academic synergies and collaborations within the building,” Stein said.

According to Stein, the CLIC was originally an industrial warehouse building. It was purchased by Tufts about 25 years ago and was rented out to tenants with the hope that it would someday be repurposed for university use, she said.

“About two years ago … senior leadership came to the realization that a lot of the academic departments needed more space, and they decided to have [the building] be for academic use,” she said.

As a result, the CLIC will be one of the first buildings on campus to contain multiple departments from multiple schools, Stein said.

The building will also be extremely sustainable and is currently tracking LEED Gold Certification, according to Stein. LEED, or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is a green building certification program run by the United States Green Buildings Council, she explained. Buildings can receive different levels of certification for meeting certain criteria, such as being near public transportation.

“We have such a tight, insulated building envelope and efficient heating system … that we were able to eliminate radiators under the windows,” Stein said.

Director of Campus Planning Lois Stanley noted that the whole Tufts community can easily share the building. According to Stanley, one-third of the building is shareable by the campus and two-thirds will be dedicated to lab space, offices and other areas specific to different projects and departments occupying the building.

“Unlike smaller projects, we had an opportunity with this big project to say ‘How do we want this building to be years from now?’ in terms of how we use space," Stanley said. "We went in thinking that we want as much of this building to be as shared as possible."

According to Stanley, a set of space-use guidelines was developed to preserve the collaborative nature and availability of the building in years to come.

“We’re hoping … that even 10 years from now, [these guidelines] will be sustained, that the principle of the building is about collaboration and cross-departmental collaboration, rather than ownership by anyone,” she said.

According to Christine Sanni, executive director of advancement, communications and services, the generosity of donors has made renovations for the CLIC possible. Sanni, who works in the Advancement Office, noted that the office is currently fundraising for both the CLIC and the Science and Engineering Complex (SEC), another new building coming to campus.

“We would love to raise as much as possible for the buildings,” Sanni said.

According to Sanni, donors can choose what their money goes toward funding in the CLIC.

“We work with [the Department of] Facilities [Services] to come up with a menu of opportunities [including] classroom spaces or lab spaces or things like the atrium or the foyer or the entrance," Sanni said. "Different people will have different things that inspire them to give."

Sanni said that the building will also help to extend the Tufts campus further, which she said is exciting for the university.

“It’s really interesting to see the campus expanding in that direction," she said. "Traditionally there was a different boundary line and now the campus map is being redrawn."

Stein expressed her enthusiasm for the project and emphasized the positive contributions that it will make to campus.

“It’s going to be a wonderful amenity to campus, and we’ve tried to make the design process very inclusive," she said. "We’ve had focus groups with undergraduates and graduate students about things they’d like to see in the building, and I think it’s going to be aesthetically beautiful."