Date Posted: 06.04.2025
Mithun will join The Industrial Commons to celebrate their 10-year anniversary and Innovation Campus groundbreaking ceremony on Thursday, June 12th.
The Industrial Commons’ (TIC) Innovation Campus will transform a 27-acre brownfield in Morganton, NC into a mixed-use light-industrial hub that embodies circularity and regenerative design, and provides a healthy, dignified work and training environment for worker-owned enterprises.
Mithun partner-in-charge and president David Goldberg shares, “The leaders of the Industrial Commons have a remarkable vision to rebuild the manufacturing industries in rural America! We are inspired by their vision and are proud to be leading the team on a project that will be a source of inspiration for sustainable workplaces and workforces of the future.”
The 43,000 sf Accelerator Building will house a manufacturing accelerator space, skilled training, flexible classroom spaces, TIC offices, galleries and a gathering space for welcoming, interacting and connecting with community and visitors. The new, sustainable hub will inspire occupants and visitors to activate community connections, and strengthen the network of values-aligned textile manufactures in the Southern Appalachian textile belt.
Building massing takes inspiration from the rural industrial roots of northwest North Carolina. Reclaimed materials include storm salvaged wood for interior finishes, and acoustical panels made by TIC from salvaged materials. The design introduces daylighting with skylights and clerestories, as well as biophilic connections to nature using a wood structure and views. Cross laminated timber, glulam beams and premanufactured structural insulated wall panels will be combined to create a healthy worker environment and achieve low embodied carbon.
“It is an honor to be working alongside TIC to transform an historic manufacturing site into a hub that weaves together industry, circularity and regenerative design,” Mithun project manager and architect Jason Wilkinson shared. “The impact of the Innovation Campus will extend well beyond the Carolinas.”
The Appalachian Regional Commission provided a $10M grant toward construction of the Accelerator Building, as part of the Appalachian Regional Initiative for Stronger Economies (ARISE) initiative for large-scale, regional economic transformation through multi-state collaborative projects.
The project team includes Mithun (architecture, interior design, urban design and planning), Baumgartner Urban Systems Strategy (BUSS) (vision/strategy), Nelson Byrd Woltz (landscape architecture and master planning), Biohabitats (ecology), Fast+Epp (structural engineer), PAE (MEP for schematic design), Buro Happold (MEP), Stantec (civil, envelope and acoustics), Thrailkill (specifications) and HKA (code).
Visit The Industrial Commons’ website to learn more about the organization and the groundbreaking ceremony’s full day of programming, networking and tours.
