One year after the design team, led by Strang, Inc., completed the construction documents for the Ascent Innovation Campus in Rapid City, South Dakota, construction is in full swing and the building is taking shape and becoming a catalyst for social, technical, and commercial innovation.
After the snowiest winter season on record—more than twice the average for the Rapid City—when Spring arrived, so did the first shipments of steel, and along with the steel, a real sense of excitement. Now that the building is more than just a hole in the ground, what was once a dream now has a physical manifestation for the community to rally around. The iconic swooping roof structure has already transformed the intersection of Main Street and East Boulevard, the cornerstone of the city’s Innovation District, and created a buzz of anticipation for the future of innovation in Rapid City.
Our friends at Scull Construction in Rapid City have continuously knocked it out of the park to ensure that Ascent Innovation’s vision becomes a reality. Their team has rallied the construction community in Rapid City around a common goal and they’ve established a culture of excellence. Ascent Innovation has been documenting the construction of the building through a monthly YouTube series titled Building Ascent. This video series prominently features the less glamorous, yet critical, processes crucial to a successful building; more importantly, though, it showcases the people committed to bringing the dream of Ascent Innovation to fruition, and the excitement within the community is palpable.
The Innovation District in Rapid City is a place to watch this decade; the precedent set by the work currently being done at the Ascent Innovation Campus will set the stage for this district to be one of the most exciting and innovative communities in the country. The slogan of the Rapid City visitor’s bureau is Do Big Things. The Ascent Innovation Campus embodies exactly what Rapid City means when they say Do Big Things, and Strang is proud of the role we’ve played to help translate this innovative culture and exciting vision into built form. In these difficult and uncertain times, it is vital to stay focused on the future and the critical work we do to support the innovators within our communities, because only through innovation can we tackle all of the challenges that we encounter.
The Innovation District in Rapid City is a place to watch this decade; the precedent set by the work currently being done at the Ascent Innovation Campus will set the stage for this district to be one of the most exciting and innovative communities in the country. The slogan of the Rapid City visitor’s bureau is Do Big Things. The Ascent Innovation Campus embodies exactly what Rapid City means when they say Do Big Things, and Strang is proud of the role we’ve played to help translate this innovative culture and exciting vision into built form. In these difficult and uncertain times, it is vital to stay focused on the future and the critical work we do to support the innovators within our communities, because only through innovation can we tackle all of the challenges that we encounter.
— Drew Martin, Design Architect, Director of Design Visualization
