A new 61,000-sf, $29.5 million Murchie Science Building (MSB) addition has completed on the University of Michigan-Flint campus. The facility was designed to respond to the university’s dramatically growing STEM program and support the College of Innovation and Technology while also providing a new gateway building to the school’s entire student body.
The MSB is organized to support immersive learning on each of its four floors. Three programatic “bars” connect and run parallel to the existing linear structure supporting varied learning and collaborative experiences. A central interaction and collaborative bar brings together the two flanking bars of experiential learning and accessible faculty. At the highly visible east gateway end of the addition each bar cantilevers out over the landscape to different degrees with the central bar increasing in height. An all glass lobby floats below the cantilevered architecture to provide a highly visible point of arrival.
The facility also includes:
— two-story high collaborative spaces visible on all floors at the west end of the addition that promote vertical connectivity and visibility before floors
— classroom and lab spaces organized in a contiguous bar that provide flexibility for future room configuration and alternate pedagogies
— a main ground floor interior circulation system that integrates an existing east-west campus pathway that will increase exposure and promote STEM programs to students passing through the building
— a system of protected pathways, locking doors, and the strategic use of opaque solid walls that provide a secure-in-place strategy for all occupants of the building.
The layered cantilevered forms of the addition integrate with and advance the existing linear architecture to create an integrated gateway that is highly visible point of entry and arrival into the university.
Related Stories
University Buildings | Oct 23, 2018
A building designed by architects, for architects
Kansas State University’s new College of Architecture Planning and Design places students at the center of the experience.
University Buildings | Oct 17, 2018
The Rhode Island School of Design receives its first new residence building in 30 years
The building was designed by a former RISD student.
University Buildings | Oct 11, 2018
Chapman University opens new science and engineering center
AC Martin designed the building.
University Buildings | Oct 8, 2018
One size doesn't fit all: Student housing is not a pair of socks
While the programming and design for these buildings all kept a holistic living/learning experience at the core, they also had amazingly different outcomes.
University Buildings | Sep 6, 2018
Construction begins on North Carolina State University’s new engineering building
Skanska is building the facility.
University Buildings | Sep 4, 2018
Rutgers University Welcome Center creates branded experience for visitors and prospective students
JZA+D designed the space.
University Buildings | Aug 27, 2018
Nebraska’s Midland University receives a new ‘kitchen table’ courtesy KWK Architects
The new gathering space is completed and ready for students returning for fall semester.
University Buildings | Aug 22, 2018
Skanska completes James Madison University’s new dining hall
The three-story building will open for fall semester 2018.
University Buildings | Aug 14, 2018
Following in the Ryan Fieldhouse’s footsteps, Northwestern University’s Walter Athletics Center officially opens
Perkins+Will designed both the Ryan Fieldhouse and the new Walter Athletics Center.
University Buildings | Aug 9, 2018
First innovation building on the master planned UNLV Harry Reid Research and Technology Park breaks ground
The building is the first of many planned for the 122-acre campus.