A wind- and human-powered sustainable energy installation and an intricate amphitheater that functions as a large musical instrument will share the top prize for the WorkPlay competition. Winners were announced March 27 as the first official event to occur in the new Stamps Auditorium, dedicated the same day.

Winning designs for the WorkPlay competition are displayed during a reception at the Stamps Auditorium dedication. (All photos by Martin Vloet, U-M Photo Services)

Roe Stamps, who is wearing a gold glitter jacket, joins his wife Penny during the dedication of Stamps Auditorium, which was named in their honor.

North Campus leaders celebrate the Stamps Auditorium dedication by wearing colorful jumpsuits to add an artistic splash to the ceremony. From left, Bryan Rogers, dean, School of Art & Design; Douglas Kelbaugh, dean, Taubman College of Architecture + Urban Planning; Paul Courant, dean, Libraries; David Munson, dean, College of Engineering; and Christopher Kendall, dean, School of Music, Theatre & Dance.

Two teams share first prize for the WorkPlay competition, which sought to create an attraction that draws people to North Campus. (Photo by Martin Vloet, U-M Photo Services)

The Stamps Auditorium, a 450-seat multipurpose facility adjacent to the Walgreen Drama Center, is named for Penny and Roe Stamps to recognize their significant generosity to the School of Art & Design (A&D) and other University units.

“The Stamps Auditorium is an essential tool for the cross-disciplinary activities that make North Campus a destination for students, faculty and the larger community, President Mary Sue Coleman said. “To recognize the support and vision of Penny and Roe in fueling this creative spirit at Michigan, we are honored to dedicate this space as the Stamps Auditorium.”

The auditorium and the WorkPlay competition represent an important collaborative spirit, A&D Dean Bryan Rogers said. “Intersections among the arts, between the arts and engineering, North Campus disciplines and disciplines on the University’s Central Campus are making a quantum leap,” Rogers said.

The WorkPlay competition, sponsored by the College of Engineering (CoE) and Arts on Earth, called for innovative designs for an attractive and interactive gathering place for North Campus, home to five colleges and schools. The competition was designed to promote innovation and collaboration across academic disciplines, and to create an attraction that draws people to North Campus.

The entries that share first prize are “C’ing Energy” and “WorkPlay Ground.” These teams must now work together with a design professional to combine their visions.

“C’ing Energy” includes low-power, artistically designed wind turbines and kinetic kiosks where visitors can generate power themselves at sites across campus. A central amphitheater would run on this power. Light-emitting diode “fireflies” would be scattered among new plantings of aspen, native prairie grass and switch grass, which would sequester carbon and also could be harvested for biofuels research.

Clean power stations where North Campus dwellers could plug in also are part of the plan. The team says its concept “makes energy visible and beautiful while providing a venue for wind, solar and biomass energy research.”

” ‘C’ing Energy’ is a distributed installation rather than a singular object or place,” said Doug Kelbaugh, dean of the Taubman College of Architecture + Urban Planning (TCAUP). “The jury appreciated the focus on sustainable energy, an issue of great consequence to us all, handled here seriously, and yet with humor and delight.”

“WorkPlay Ground” takes a more concentrated approach, with a central amphitheater that functions as a large musical instrument and pays homage to other sculptures at the University. The team describes it as “a marvelous visual and musical collage of playscape architecture and sustainable engineering.”

Swings, slides and other components would make music when put into motion by users or by the wind. The anchoring reflecting pool has a fountain in the summer. And it freezes into an ice rink in the winter. “WorkPlay Ground” welcomes additions over the years by new North Campus classes.

“We liked “WorkPlay Ground” for its pure sense of fun, its engagement of all the North Campus units and its capacity for modification,” said Dave Munson, the Robert J. Vlasic Dean of Engineering.

Each team wins $7,500, because they share the top honor. The jury has asked the winning teams to work with each other and a design professional to create a new design that incorporates elements of both submissions and evolves into something new and unified. They must also stay within the project’s $500,000 budget. The heart of the final product would be situated near the Lurie Tower in the center of North Campus.

Members of team “C’ing Energy” are Joseph Trumpey, associate professor in A&D; Scott Curry, graduate student at TCAUP; Mark Hunter, professor in the School of Natural Resources and the Environment (SNRE); Larissa Larsen, assistant professor at TCAUP; Andrew Sell, undergraduate student in A&D; and Jeremy Semrau, associate professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and at SNRE.

Members of team WorkPlay Ground are: Mark Tucker, coordinator of Arts on the Hill at LSA; Adam Constantino, undergraduate student in TCAUP; Ai Kawashimi, undergraduate student in TCAUP; Michael Jen, undergraduate student in TCAUP; Eric Harman, undergraduate student in A&D; Aline Cotel, associate professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering; and associate professor Michael Gould, graduate student Alvin Hill, and professor Stephen Rush, of the School of Music, Theatre & Dance.

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