Building a Dignified, Regenerative Future

Innovation Campus

Morganton, NC

Vision for Local Circularity

The new Innovation Campus transforms a 27-acre brownfield into a model mixed-use, light-industrial hub that embodies circularity and regenerative design. New buildings introduce a dignified work and training environment for worker-owned enterprises — advancing manufacturing with a deep connection to nature, place and the community.

Healthy Working Space

The campus is designed to inspire occupants and visitors to activate community connections and strengthen the network of values-aligned textile manufactures in the Southern Appalachian textile belt. A wood structure of cross laminated timber, glulam beams and premanufactured structural insulated wall panels achieves low embodied carbon and provides biophilic connection to nature. Skylights and clerestories bring daylight and views into the daily experience.

Reuse, Restore, Renew

Repurposed materials are integrated throughout the campus, including storm-salvaged wood for interior finishes and acoustical panels constructed by the Industrial Commons team. Site restoration includes the daylighting of a culverted creek, and walking connections through a botanical dye garden and native plantings.