When first completed, the students immediately dubbed the Administration Building “Fort Smith” because of its short, narrow, fortress-like windows; plus the fact that President Smith “holed” up in it. The state architect had changed the building design without notifying the University officials. (Michigan Tech Centennial 1885–1985)
The theories of laboratory ventilation collided with practice when the "Chem-Bio Building" was opened in 1968. Robust Portage Valley winds and inevitable changes in lab use caused ventilation safety problems and several building closures until a new laboratory ventilation system was installed in the building in 1980.
First constructed in 1952 and extensively remodeled in 1990, the MUB continues to aspire to be the "Living Room of the Campus". Its confusing floor layouts continue to challenge new users and provide us with a living example of the work of building planning committees and architects gone bad.
Constructed as part of the Chem-Bio Building Project in 1968, the circular greenhouse was fitted up to use waste heat from the campus steam tunnels in the early 1980s. It still does.
The first major building projects completed on the "South Campus": The Ice Arena in 1971 and the SDC in 1980 were the embodiment of one of the main goals of the 1966 Campus Plan.
The first campus building designed in response to the nation's initial energy crisis, the EERC from the beginning aspired to be a model of responsible energy use and "sustainability" years before that word became part of our lexicon.
The old campus skyline is gone forever, yet another reminder to us mortals of our false illusions of permanence.
When our on-campus customers contact us to build a project, their focus, understandably, is on that project. Our focus is broader; we try to see each building project within the context of the overall development of the campus.
Our campus plan, “A Guide to Future Physical Development,” was first adopted in 1966 and supplemented in 1993, 1999, and 2006. We use it and other sound planning principles to create facilities that not only fulfill the immediate needs of the first users, but to also create facilities that will have a useful life for decades. These are facilities that fit appropriately within the aesthetic and historical context of Michigan Tech’s campus. These are facilities that will serve users whose needs have not yet been articulated. These facilities are structures with exterior envelopes that have a useful life of up to 100 years, are efficient to heat, ventilate, light and cool, and that are capable of several adaptive reuses. The design and construction of these facilities embody principles that attempt to minimize the vast majority of total ownership costs that occur after construction, before concentrating on minimizing actual, immediate construction costs.
Application of these principles over a period of years has resulted in a campus physical plant that is relatively compact, convenient, energy efficient and appropriately scaled and sized for a total enrollment of up to 10,000 students. It is a campus with a robust infrastructure that lends itself to the ever-changing needs of its users, while maintaining a sense of permanence and recognition of and respect for our unique ecological niche.
For more information, contact James Heikkinen, assistant director, planning and engineering at 906-487-2305.
