Design for North Quad gets Regents' nod

Interactive, inventive, immediate and global are characteristics used to describe the schematic design of the new North Quad living/learning complex, approved Dec. 15 by the Board of Regents.

(Courtesy Einhorn Yaffee Prescott And Robert A.M. Stern)

Combining sophisticated academic areas with residence space for 460 students, the North Quad Residential and Academic Complex will provide classrooms, studios and offices for five information and communications-related programs. The result will be an environment in which lively interactions among students and faculty spill seamlessly from classrooms to hallways to faculty offices to living quarters—all under the same roof.

The architectural team of Einhorn Yaffee Prescott (EYP) and Robert A.M. Stern Architects created a design that draws on classic features of academic architecture. On the ground level, the brick and stone building encloses one continuous interior. Above ground, the complex appears as two separate buildings—an L-shaped, seven-story academic tower and a 10-story residential tower arranged around interlocking courtyards, and connected by a cloister evocative of the Law Quad.

"We envision this space as a new gateway and magnet for the rest of campus—an energized, innovative, always-active center close to the heart of downtown Ann Arbor," President Mary Sue Coleman said.

Demolition and site preparation work is scheduled to begin this winter on the $175 million, 360,000-square-foot project. Construction will be phased with completion expected by the summer of 2010.

The current design was undertaken and the project budget increased after University leadership and the regents introduced a new goal in March 2006 to create a signature building appropriate for its prominent location on Central Campus. Stern was added as lead designer, while Einhorn Yaffee Prescott remains the architectural firm of record. A one-year extension of the schedule to allow for a redesign, additional architectural fees, and the increased quality of the exterior building design and materials added to the original cost.

Information, communication and media are major themes for the units that will occupy the academic tower, which will face Washington and State streets. Entities housed in the facility include the Department of Screen Arts and Cultures, the Department of Communication Studies, the Language Resource Center and the Sweetland Writing Center—all components of LSA. The School of Information (SI) also will bring all of its faculty members together in the building. Three TV studios, a Media Gateway, a cyber cafe, media intensive classrooms and research areas, exhibit space, as well as faculty offices, academic administration space, and graduate student workspace will be housed in the complex.

As the University's first new residence hall to be constructed in nearly 40 years, the living portions of the complex will offer housing not found in any other facility on campus, said E. Royster Harper, vice president of student affairs.

"The housing space is designed to offer students the features they desire, while working toward the goal of enhancing the connection between living and learning, and ensuring that residence hall students have an excellent, well-equipped, secure environment for personal and intellectual growth," Harper said.

The residence hall will offer two configurations: suites containing two double rooms and a living room and bath, and arrangements of four single rooms sharing a bath. Each residence hall floor houses lounges and cozies. The building also will offer a community learning center with additional small group study areas. The residence design is informed by the work of the Residential Life Initiative, a presidential task force that defined a U-M community of the future that co-locates living space, classrooms and public gathering spaces across campus to create neighborhoods built on the premise that learning and discovery occur everywhere.

A double-height dining hall, accommodating about 180 will be located in a low-rise portion of the academic tower, with views to the outdoor space adjacent to Rackham Auditorium, the central plaza and Washington Street. An image cafe will offer coffee and snacks in an interactive media environment.

"Our design for North Quad reinforces the unique architectural and planning traditions of the Ann Arbor campus, with massing and forms based on the very special blend of Collegiate Gothic and the Arts & Crafts which uniquely identify the campus," said Robert Stern, lead design architect for the project.

Stern notes that welcoming plazas at the northwest and southeast corners of the block open up the quad to its surroundings, while a café and gallery spaces to the west pick up the retail rhythm of State Street. The preserved facade of the Carnegie Library is incorporated into the residential building along Huron Street. A broad plaza welcomes the community to the campus at the intersection of State and Huron. The North Quad buildings rise in a counterclockwise spiral from the dining hall, with large bay windows overlooking Rackham Green, to the boldly shaped tower at the southeast plaza, visible from as far away as the Diag.

Media and information technology—subjects of intense interest among students—comprise the academic offerings in the complex, says Terrence McDonald, dean of LSA.

"Today's students expect much more," McDonald says. "They expect an interactive experience, an expert teacher who can be a coach and a partner. We're making the transition to the world of active learning where a technologically enabled classroom challenges and enriches the roles of faculty and students."

While SI currently is a graduate school, Dean of Information C. Olivia Frost says major initiatives for undergraduates are being planned.

"The School of Information is looking forward to new opportunities for intellectual engagement with our North Quad academic colleagues, and the potential to work together on research and instruction to explore multimedia approaches to learning and literacy," Frost says.

Carole Henry, assistant vice president for student affairs and director of University Housing, said considerable input into the design was gathered from students, who also will be asked for comment periodically as the project moves forward.