A $16.75 million donation will support the renovation of the Prince Lab into the Lassonde Innovation and Design Hub, Brown announced Thursday. The building will feature an “expanded and modernized” Brown Design Workshop, classrooms and research labs.
The building will also house two engineering master’s programs: the master of science in innovation management and entrepreneurship and the Brown-RISD master of arts in design engineering.
The hub will “provide a new center for entrepreneurial learning and create new opportunities for Brown students to build community around the creative process,” President Christina Paxson P’19 P’MD’20 wrote in a press release.
Sergio Gonzalez, senior vice president for advancement, added that the hub will “expand hands-on, experiential learning opportunities” and “strengthen Brown’s position as a leader in design engineering education.”
The donation was made by the Lassonde Family Foundation, led by Pierre Lassonde P’EMBA’18 P’AM’24, a Canadian businessman who has previously given multi million-dollar donations to the University of Utah and Polytechnique Montréal. He serves as the co-founder and chairman emeritus of Franco-Nevada Corporation, a publicly traded mining and energy royalty company.
Renovations to the 63-year-old building will begin in spring 2026 and will take approximately 18 months to complete. The construction will be “funded entirely” by the Lassonde Family Foundation and “several additional donors,” the release reads.
Julie Lassonde EMBA’18 AM’24 P’24, Lassonde’s daughter and chair of the Board of Governors for the School of Engineering, first suggested the Prince Lab renovation to her father’s foundation, citing the facility’s opportunity for “cross-pollination of people and ideas.”
“Brown students are ahead of just about everybody else in terms of starting new businesses and using their minds to create new intellectual property,” Pierre Lassonde said.
“That creates new value for the world, which is what I’ve tried to support both in my business career and in my philanthropic work,” he added.
Page Architects will oversee the design process of the renovation while Shawmut Design and Construction will be the lead contractor on the project.
Lassonde hopes that the space will benefit students both academically and professionally.
“I would love for students to write me in five years saying, ‘I had this idea in the workshop one day and now I’ve started a company,’” Lassonde said. “That’s how you change people’s lives. That’s what we’re trying to do.”
Cate Latimer is a university news editor covering faculty, University Hall and higher education. She is from Portland, OR, and studies English and Urban Studies. In her free time, you can find her playing ultimate frisbee or rewatching episodes of Parks and Rec.
