The University of Michigan-Dearborn is constructing the two-story, 46,000-sf Engineering Building. Designed by Lord, Aeck & Sargent to reflect the automotive industry heritage of the campus, the $12.8-million facility is slated for completion in December 2006. The building features a 12,000-sf, two-story high-bay laboratory housing a 30-foot-high pivoting radial crane that will be used in research by faculty and students in the College of Engineering and Computer Sciences (CECS) Institute for Advanced Vehicle Systems. The facility's circular form and structure is reminiscent of a wheel, reflecting the founding of the campus in 1959 by a gift of 196 acres from the Ford Motor Company.
The building includes a two-story atrium lobby and a 210-seat high-tech seminar room/auditorium. The first floor will house dedicated laboratories for transmission and gearing; ergonomics; student design; automotive electronics; and structural crash dynamics; and a carwash. Adjacent to the high-bay lab are specialized laboratory spaces separated by glazed glass to share light and showcase the activities within. The second floor includes two conference rooms and an advanced technology, multi-purpose classroom. The basement will house all of the mechanical and electrical systems. Laboratory support services will be delivered through access technologies running perpendicular to a main utility tunnel connected to the basement. The project team included general contractor JM Olson Corporation of St. Clair Shores, Mich.; MEP/FP engineer and AV consultant Newcomb & Boyd of Atlanta; civil engineer The Mannik & Smith Group of Dearborn; and structural engineer Robert Darvas Associates of Ann Arbor, Mich.
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Newcomb & Boyd
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Lord Aeck Sargent
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