Ennead Architects has recently celebrated the completion of the steel core of a new 295,000-square-foot Biological Sciences Building (BSB) and Museum of Natural History with a topping out ceremony at the University of Michigan. Due to open in 2018, the BSB will bring together the departments of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, the Research Museums of Paleontology and Zoology, and a re-envisioned Museum of Natural History.
In order to foster intimacy and collaboration, the building has been designed with small, interconnected “lab neighborhoods” sized appropriately for specific research endeavors.
Two glazed atriums unify the building’s three volumes, allowing for visual connectivity between research and museum spaces.
With an education-focused mission, the museum space within the project will exhibit collections that communicate the research conducted at the University. Specialized programs, such as two investigative libraries, a multimedia presentation space, and a seventy-seat digital dome theater will be incorporated into the Museum.
The building will complete a new “Science Neighborhood” for the University, unifying a residential zone, the life sciences quad, and the main axis through the campus, the “Diag.”
News via Ennead Architects.
