Regents approve schematic design for School of Public Health
buildings renovation
ANN ARBOR, Mich.The University of Michigan
Board of Regents today (May 15) approved the schematic design for
the renovation of and addition to the School of Public Health buildings.
The design, as proposed by Centerbrook Architects
and Planners, will demolish the southerly east-west wing of the
Henry F. Vaughan Building (SPH 1) and in its place construct a seven-story
addition. The 125,000 square-foot addition will house modern laboratories,
classrooms, interaction spaces, and community-focused research space.
The remaining portion of SPH I subsequently will be fully restored
for teaching, research, and administrative use.
"The project will address the remarkable
growth in sponsored research that has doubled over the past five
years at the School of Public Health," said Noreen Clark,
dean of the school. "The school, consistently ranked as one
of the nation's top schools, is at the forefront of national and
international developments in public health. These renovations are
vital to our continued growth and success."
Regents also granted approval to revise the project
budget to $70 million in recognition of the newly emerging priorities
for the role of public health in today's world and to provide
needed laboratory space in the 60-year-old building. Project funding
will be provided from private gifts, SPH resources and capital investment
proceeds.
"U-M researchers are tackling some of the
world's most critical public health issues," Clark said. "The
Sschool is historically renowned for its work in vaccine development,
environmental and health policy, and chronic disease issues that
reflect the broad range of public health itself. The new facility
will enable us to expand our work in these areas and to devote new
resources to addressing the most pressing public health concerns
of the day, from bioterrorism to AIDS, asthma, tobacco policy, socioeconomic
disparities in health, genetics, and health insurance."
The addition includes a five-story connection
that will bridge over Washington Heights to SPH 2 building. A new
main entrance to the complex will be featured on the Washington
Heights side of the complex.
The goals of the project are to advance the school's
outward-reaching connections to local and regional communities,
to foster communication and collaboration within the building, to
provide teaching and laboratory spaces capable of meeting the needs
of the future, and to ensure that the school remains at the forefront
of technological developments. The building project is designed
to encourage interdisciplinary research and partnerships, the foundation
of public health as it is practiced at the School today, from bench
science to community action. Construction is scheduled to begin
later this summer and be completed in the fall of 2006.
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Contact: Diane Brown
Phone: (734) 936-2323
E-mail: dianebr@umich.edu
or
Terri Mellow
(734) 764-8094
twm@umich.edu