The Board of Regents approved design plans Thursday for a new 100,000-square-foot classroom building on Central Campus that will serve up to 10,000 students each day.
The construction is part of a project that also would renovate the historic Alexander G. Ruthven Museums Building. The new facility — to be called the Central Campus Classroom Building — will replace a 34,000-square-foot addition built onto the Ruthven building in 1964.
The classroom building will include 1,400 classroom seats in a variety of learning spaces, including a 550-seat auditorium, a 200-seat classroom “in the round” and other team-based learning rooms.
Project addresses campus need
The project design accommodates the university’s evolving academic needs as more courses and instructors require large, modern, team-based and active-learning classrooms.
The rooms will include state-of-the-art technology and be constructed with a more open plan and increased flexibility, including the ability to transition easily from lectures to small work teams to larger group discussions. A faculty advisory group contributed input to the new classroom building.
“In many fields, the way we teach has changed, becoming more interactive, more collaborative, and using new technologies,” says Provost Martin Philbert. “This new building will support these innovations, facilitate and enhance student engagement and contribute to teaching and learning in the future.”
The building’s prime location on Central Campus — close to student living areas, libraries and the Central Campus Transportation Center — make it especially appealing for new classrooms.
Aside from classroom space, the project also includes the renovation and reuse of the approximately 135,000-square-foot main Ruthven building, former home of the Museum of Natural History.
The former museum facility will house space for academic and research initiatives, an approximately 200-person multipurpose room, and administrative spaces for central administration staff currently located in the Fleming Administration Building, including the president and other executive officers.
The renovated building also will provide additional space to accommodate students with special testing needs.
“In bringing together teaching, research, and administration, the new building will foster collaborations that strengthen the university’s ability to fulfill its academic mission,” Philbert explains.
The aging Fleming Building is functionally obsolete with numerous structural and infrastructure problems.
Design preserves historic structure
The Ruthven plans address two of the university’s priorities when it comes to construction and renovation — preserving historic buildings and making them more environmentally sustainable.
The Ruthven Museums Building, with its red brick and Bedford limestone exterior constructed in the Classical Revival style, was designed by famed architect Albert Kahn and built in 1928.
Kahn designed a number of notable buildings on campus and throughout southeastern Michigan, including the Fisher Building and the Belle Isle Aquarium and Conservatory in Detroit, as well as Hill Auditorium, Clements Library and Angell Hall on the Ann Arbor campus.
One of the goals for this project was preserving the building’s many interesting architectural features, including its two-story decorative rotunda and more than 100 images including animals and mythological creatures carved into the exterior limestone.
While celebrating the building’s history, the design also includes a number of elements that will make the building more environmentally sustainable, including lights that turn on and off by motion sensor, indoor bicycle storage and better utilization of natural lighting. The project will seek LEED Silver certification, an industry standard for green building design and function.
The project is expected to provide an average of 115 on-site construction jobs and is scheduled to be completed in the fall of 2021. Although there will be a temporary loss of some adjacent parking spaces during construction, there will be no permanent impact on parking capacity from this project.
In addition to approving the design plans, regents also voted to remove the word “museums” from the official name of the Alexander G. Ruthven Museums Building. The Museum of Natural History is moving to the Biological Sciences Building and scheduled to reopen next year.
Susan Wineberg
It’s a wrong headed decision to demolish the Fleming building. It was designed by a renowned architect, Alden Dow, and is unique. It also sends the wrong message about sustainability and recycling. The U should find a way to repurpose this building.
Kristin Sumrall
_totally_ agree Susan.
Ember McCoy
Given the rapid reduction in emissions necessary to curb catastrophic climate change (https://www.michigandaily.com/section/viewpoints/op-ed-time-lead-climate), why is U-M’s green building standard still so low? You note that the project will seek LEED Silver certification, but President Schlissel’s own Greenhouse Gas Reduction Committee recommended changing the standards more than 3 years ago, stating:
“we recommend that the University adopt ASHRAE 90.1-2007 +50% as its energy standard and consider even more aggressive approaches, such as ASHRAE 90.1-2013, or the American Institute of Architects AIA 2030 Commitment, which also focuses directly on energy and GHG reduction. Both of these alternatives have lower upfront administrative and certification costs (which can be substantial in the case of LEED.” (from http://sustainability.umich.edu/media/files/Greenhouse%20Gas%20Reduction%20Committee%20Report%202015%20(1).pdf)
It seems like something is seriously wrong if even such simple recommendations have still not been enacted after 3 years. What’s to stop the same thing from happening to the new Carbon Neutrality Commission?