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Murchie Science Building, University of Michigan-Flint
Flint, MI
Four years in four stories.
Creating a four-year college experience in a single building.
Connecting nontraditional students to campus.
In the last decade the number of UM-Flint students majoring in STEM disciplines increased by 58%—all housed in a single facility, the Murchie Science Building (MSB). To accommodate continued enrollment growth in STEM, MSB expanded, with an addition that adds 70,000 SF of new, active and team-based learning spaces.

UM-Flint turned to HED to design an addition to extend and enhance the existing MSB. The new structure would not only need to create new classrooms and laboratories, but also meet the unique needs of UM-Flint’s nontraditional student population, providing majority-commuter students with a strong connection to the campus and cultivating a sense of community. In response, the design encapsulates a traditional four-year campus experience within a single building.

Pursuing LEED Silver certification, the four-story addition added learning spaces, including a high bay lab for vibration and automotive experiments; wet labs for bioscience and chemistry; and engineering labs. Large, general purpose classrooms are consolidated in a single, universal 3rd-floor space, preventing siloes, promoting synergies and encouraging cross-disciplinary study.

The completion of the Murchie Science Building Addition enables UM-Flint to continue delivering the highest-quality education to students pursuing degrees in STEM, and ensures that every student—whether traditional or non-traditional—experiences the university’s on-campus community.
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With guidance from … HED we … pursued several forward-looking design features in this expansion including innovative cross-disciplinary and collaborative spaces, putting science on display and showcasing STEM education as a means to recruit talented students and faculty, building a sense of community for our largely commuter students, and ensuring space to engage with our broader community.””
Susan Gano-Phillips
Dean | College of Arts & Sciences
University of Michigan-Flint
Project Data
Murchie Science Building 2015-01008-001
University of Michigan, Flint
Flint, MI
PROJECT SCOPE
Addition
HED ROLE
Architecture (Full Service), Structural Engineering, Mechanical/ Plumbing Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Technology Solutions, Landscape Architecture, Lab Planning
RSF/GSF
70,115
CONSTRUCTION COST
$29.5 Million
SUSTAINABILITY LEVEL
    Designed to LEED Silver
Project Team
  • Christopher Vogelheim
    AIA, LEED AP
    Principal
    Sector Leader
  • Charlie Jacobs
    ASLA, PMP, LEED AP BD+C
    Principal
    Sector Operations Leader | Science | Manufacturing and New Product Development
  • Jack Bullo
    AIA, LEED AP
    Principal
    Design / Architecture
  • Brian Fiander
    PE, LEED AP BD+C, MBA
    Associate
    Electrical Engineering
  • Megan Crawford
    PE
    Associate Principal
    Structural Engineering
  • Mark Hieber
    ASLA, LEED AP
    Principal
    Landscape Architecture
Creating a four-year college experience in a single building.
Murchie Science Building, University of Michigan-Flint
Flint, MI
PROJECT DATA
PROJECT TEAM
Four years in four stories.