Saint Thomas Academy Innovation Center

​Building on a history of projects completed at Saint Thomas Academy and a vast portfolio of institutional work, Opus was chosen to design and build a new innovation center on the school's beautiful 88-acre campus in Mendota Heights, Minn.

Saint Thomas Academy is a private, Catholic, all-male college preparatory school with a rich 130+ year history of providing education for grades 6 – 12 that emphasizes servant leadership, character development and personal responsibility. 

Opus designed the Innovation Center to deliver exactly what Saint Thomas Academy desired: a dedicated space where students can stretch their capabilities and thought processes beyond textbooks, while “getting their hands dirty." It's a safe environment for all students to ideate, desig​n, build and test projects that directly impact their science and engineering learning experience. 

The Client Direct Services project employed Opus DB³, bringing together all stakeholders – the client, architect and builder – for meaningful collaboration resulting in the delivery of this state-of-the-art institutional space, on-time and within budget. The new 2,876-square-foot Innovation Center has classroom space and a lab area that accommodates a wide variety of equipment, such as 3D printers, vinyl cutters, CNC three-axis mill, drill press, laser cutter/engraver and 3D scanner and measuring equipment. As part of the lab construction, Opus also installed dust collection and ventilation systems.  

The Innovation Center is Opus' 14th project for Saint Thomas Academy, including major projects, renovations and small proejcts. In 2014, Opus completed the Vincent J. Flynn Hall, a Saint Thomas Academy student activities center. Opus was recognized with the Design Build Institute of American Upper Midwest Region (DBIA-UMR) Excellence Award in the educational facilities category for the project.