Idlab

We design inspirational places for creative and effective works.

Why we created?

Innovation&Dream Lab in Istanbul Bilgi University Central Campus was opened in 2015.

Istanbul Bilgi University at the time needed a design and implementation space. It needed to be breed between a lab, prototyping workshop,  study hall and a music studio while being sophisticated in its design to allow for all such activities to coexist and cross-pollinate. In this space the engineers should be able to work with painters statue majors or industrial design students while listening to the jazz musician they inspire by their bustling activity. It was aimed to be a hot bed for novelty modeling, expertise brokering and innovative collaboration.

How we created?

As do macroscopic trends change so do the needs of institutions. In this space, we set out to keep the space modular, divisible and redistributable so that repurposing for evolving needs could be easily accomplished. Our work for Bilgi University comprised of conceiving the theme of the lab, architectural design of the space, illustrative and decorative implementations. After the lab space was completed our work comprised of making a few test rounds with students to demonstrate how to use the lab and set the precedence of innovation in the university’s culture. A course was created with curriculum that prepared the students to observe problems, conceive of solutions and narrate to others for the purpose of inspiring confidence and collaboration. The students that participated in the course were invited to create their innovative projects, and guided through the innovation process.

One segment was designed as a conference room that could be used as a joint collaboration space with the intention of setting up talks and panels that industry leaders could host to connect with students here. In other areas we sought to refrain from pre-allocating a specific use case or purpose to the smaller areas within the space.

The stage of our work putting the lab to use through student engagement was a key part of our mission here to take advantage of the power of precedence and make this a lab about making real products, building applicable solutions and finding other solution oriented minds willing to co-create the future.