Campus enhancements are improving students' learning environment
Marcy Marro , Managing Editor,
Posted
06/29/2011
Many of the campus buildings at Eastern Michigan
University in Ypsilanti, Mich., are being
upgraded to provide a more comfortable environment
for students and staff, as part of the university's
Education First! Initiative. The
First-Year Center and the Mark Jefferson Science
Building are two of the buildings undergoing
renovations. The First-Year Center was recently
remodeled to add visual interest with angled,
copper-colored windows from Wausau Window and Wall
Systems, while on the western edge of campus, a
spherical planetarium/classroom sits at the top of the
glass and brick exterior of the new five-story building
with metal sunshades, green roof and a rain garden
are part of the $90 million energy-efficient addition
to and renovation of the Mark Jefferson Science
Building, which is pursuing LEED Silver certification
from the U.S. Green Building Council.
The freshman-focused facility includes a dining commons and
four wings of a residential hall, which houses 600 students.
Many of the center's windows were original to its 1960s
construction, and needed to be replaced with newer,
energy-efficient windows and frames. Rather than replicate the
existing flush-frame window placement, architectural firm
Hamilton Anderson Associates, put a geometric spin on the
project, setting the frames at various angles against the
building.
To attain the architect's unique
design, glazing contractor Trainor Glass Co. installed
more than 675 operable, high-performance Advantage by
Wausau 2250-LP Series low-profile windows. The
windows feature blue-green VRE-67 Low-E insulating
glass from Viracon Inc. and thermal barriers applied
by Linetec. The windows earned an AAMA AW-60 rating, as
well as helped to increase daylighting, lower the U-Factor and
widen the view. Linetec also applied the eco-friendly, copper
anodized finish on Wausau's 2.5-inch-deep, aluminum framing.
The frosty matte copper color provides a striking
contrast to the center's blond brick exterior.
Additional improvements to the First-Year Center include a
major, exterior cleaning; new siding; new elevators; and new
wireless Internet throughout the complex. "The renovations we
made upgraded and modernized this highly utilized facility,"
says John Donegan, EMU's chief of operations. "Not only will
it be more energy-efficient, but the exterior
renovations will make the entire complex more attractive
and visually-appealing for our students."
Designed by Lord, Aeck & Sargent, Phase 1 of the
Science Complex, an 80,000-square-foot addition, was completed
in December 2010, and Phase 2, a complete renovation of the
existing 180,000-square-foot building originally
constructed in 1969, began in January 2011 and is
targeted an August 2012 completion. The new
addition houses the biology, chemistry, geography
and geology, physics and astronomy, and
psychology departments and includes 36 laboratories on
the first two floors with faculty offices on the
third through fifth. Wade Tornquist, associate dean of
EMU's College of Arts & Sciences and chair of the Facility
Advisory Committee worked closely with Lord, Aeck &
Sargent to convey the vision of the project's stakeholders,
saying the science facilities needed to be modernized with the
addition of laboratories and upgrading of classrooms to add
the technology required for modern learning methods.
Facing west, the new addition is connected through
pedestrian walkways to the Mark Jefferson Science Building and
runs parallel to its entire length, masking the front of the
'60s era brick-andstone trim building. The addition continues
beyond the other building to the north, where it also
joins with EMU's Strong Hall, another science
building. This continuing portion of the addition is
two stories high and is topped by an extensive green roof
planted with drought-resistant sedums native to Michigan. The
roof is part of the project's natural stormwater management
system and helps to retain and treat stormwater. A small plaza
for class gathering on the green roof provides students an
opportunity to learn about sustainable building design.
"We wanted the building addition to be infused with natural
daylight, so we designed the front as a brick-and-glass
curtainwall. But because the building faces west, the addition
would also be prone to heat buildup," says Terry
Sargent, Lord, Aeck & Sargent design principal in charge
of the EMU project. "To address that, we
carefully designed the glazing systems with tinted frit
glass and stainless-steel mesh sunshades that span
the façade's vertical distance." Kawneer Co. Inc.
supplied the curtainwall system, while the sunshades were
manufactured by GKD Metal Fabrics. The sunshades use wire
cables in the span directions, which are anchored at the top
and bottom support and only require small intermediate
supports for wind loads at every floor plate.
Putting science on display literally from the top down, the
atrium offers a five-story view from the ground floor up to a
suspended spherical planetarium/classroom that appears to
float from above. Originally intended as a spherical
classroom, students in EMU's department of physics and
astronomy now also use it as a planetarium, thanks to the gift
of a planetarium projector from the department's faculty and
staff members. Additionally, the atrium creates more
interaction spaces for students. "The atrium provides
plenty of places for students to mingle and talk or sit
and do homework," Tornquist says.
"We also created the atrium to bring in natural daylight
and to put science on display," says Sargent. "We used
extensive interior glazing in the atrium both to allow light
entering from outside to infiltrate the labs and to ensure
that those who enter know they're in a science building."
First-Year Center, Eastern Michigan
University, Ypsilanti, Mich.
Architect: Hamilton Anderson Associates, Detroit
Glazing contractor: Trainor Glass Co., Allan Park,
Mich.
Windows: Wausau Window and Wall
Systems, Wausau, Wis., www.wausauwindow.com, Circle
#60
Glass: Viracon Inc., Owatonna,
Minn., www.viracon.com, Circle #61
Anodize and thermal barriers: Linetec,
Wausau, www.linetec.com, Circle #62
Science Complex, Eastern Michigan
University, Ypsilanti
Construction manager: Christman/Dumas, a joint
venture of The Christman Co., Lansing, Mich., and Dumas
Concepts in Building, Detroit
Program manager: AECOM, Detroit
Architect: Lord, Aeck & Sargent, Ann
Arbor, Mich.
Civil engineer and landscape architect: Beckett
& Raeder, Ann Arbor, Mich.
MEP/FP engineer: Peter Basso Associates, Troy,
Mich.
Structural engineer: Robert Darvas
Associates, Ann Arbor, Mich.
Curtainwall installer: Curtis Glass, Troy,
Mich.
Sunshades: GKD Metal Fabrics, Cambridge,
Md., www.gkdmetalfabrics.com, Circle #63
Curtainwall: Kawneer Co. Inc., Norcross,
Ga., www.kawneer.com, Circle #64