The University of Michigan celebrated the grand opening of its new College of Pharmacy building last Friday, a six-story, 142,000-square-foot facility that its architects say is now the tallest mass timber research building in the world. The ceremony capped years of delayed construction and consolidated a program that had been scattered across seven separate buildings on campus.
As reported by CBS News Detroit, the building features sustainable design concepts throughout its six stories. Designed by RDG Planning & Design, the structure is the first mass timber building on U-M’s campus, using engineered wood in place of much of the steel typically found in large research facilities.
That construction choice is not just cosmetic. According to RDG, the hybrid mass timber structure achieved a 59% reduction in embodied carbon compared to a traditional steel building, while the design projects a 62.3% cut in energy costs as the facility pursues LEED Gold certification.
A Long Road From a 1960s Building to Huron Street
The project traces back to May 2019, but pandemic-era capital freezes paused it soon after. The University of Michigan’s Board of Regents did not resume the effort until October 2022, when it approved a revised $141 million budget and schematic design, up from the original $121 million estimate, according to the university…