Engineering Building (Michigan State University)
The Engineering Building on Michigan State University campus is located on the southeast corner of Red Cedar Road and South Shaw Lane. The current engineering building was constructed by Giffels-Rossetti after the original building was destroyed by fire. The current building was finished in 1962 making it possible to move all engineering facilities south of the Red Cedar River to this new location (Dewhurst and Stanford 139). The four-story building is made up of four wings, the northeast, the northwest, the southeast, and the southwest. The building features a courtyard, a library, and one of twenty Sparty’s located on the Michigan State campus. The building also holds offices, classrooms, computer labs, and engineering labs for the College of Engineering and it’s numerous departments.
History
In 1885 the first building, The Mechanical Building, for the newly established mechanical and engineering department was built for at this time, the Michigan Agriculture College (Michigan State University)(Seeley 5). The building was designed by Rolla C. Carpenter, who contributed to the school in numerous ways including coaching football in 1886 and as an instructor for many years (Seeley 3). The Mechanical Building also known as the mechanical lab and mechanical shops, underwent expansion soon after in 1887 also being designed by Carpenter (Seeley 4). The building was replaced after a short period of time by a new building for engineering in 1907, The Engineering Building. The Mechanical Building was then used for engineering shops and was sometimes referred to as the engineering shops (Seeley 8). After less than a decade of use the fairly new, Engineering Building and the Mechanical Building were both destroyed by a fire that began in the southeast corner of the basement of the Engineering Building on the morning of Sunday, March 5th, 1916 (Seeley 8). As a result of the destruction on the Engineering Building R.E. Olds greatly helped in the funding of the reconstruction of the new Engineering Building (Seeley 8). The new building was built nearly identical to the previous one that was destroyed and was built on the same ground. Due to the great contributions of R.E. Olds to help in construction of the new building and engineering shops, the building was dedicated to him on June 1st, 1917 (Seeley 8). The new building was now known as the R.E. Olds Hall of Engineering. As engineering continued to expand at Michigan State College of Agriculture and Applied Science (Michigan State University), the Electrical Engineering Building, which is now known as the Computer Center was built in 1947 (Seeley 18). The construction of the Electrical Engineering Building was then followed by the creation of the current Engineering Building, located on South Shaw Lane and Red Cedar Road in 1962.
The New Facility
With the development of the new Engineering Building in 1962 the College of Engineering moved from its previous location at Olds Hall to where it remains today on South Shaw Lane (Dewhurst and Stanford 139). The new building started construction in 1961 by the Giffels-Rossetti construction firm and was completed in 1962. The completion made it possible to move all engineering facilities to the new location. The building underwent further construction and renovations by a different construction firm in 1989 (Dewhurst and Stanford 139). Albert Kahn Associates was the new firm creating the existing wings in the building with its southeast, southwest, northwest, and northeast wings forming a courtyard at the center of the building. The additions to the building added one hundred and sixty-seven thousand square feet and came to a final cost of about thirty-four and a half million dollars (College of Engineering). The 1989 construction over doubled the size of the building and created the first post modernist building on the Michigan State campus with its new gabbled entrance (Dewhurst and Stanford 139). The building underwent further construction a few years later in 1996 after receiving five million dollars from the Herbert H. and Grace A. Dow Foundation used for establishing a materials research institute and the further construction of the Engineering Building (McVey). This construction was an addition to the Engineering Building and was completed by the same firm as the previous addition in 1989, Albert Kahn Associates (Dewhurst and Stanford 139). This most recent addition was completed in 1997. The addition to the building created a new wing and was on the east side connecting the Engineering Building to Anthony Hall on South Shaw Lane. Final construction costs were fourteen million dollars for the project that added forty-six thousand square feet to the building creating laboratories and faculty offices (College of Engineering). University trustees voted the name of the new established institute to be Herbert H. and Grace A. Dow Institute for Material Research because of the five million dollar contribution (McVey). The contribution was among the greatest ever granted by the Herbert H. and Grace A. Dow Foundation and the greatest amount ever received by the College of Engineering (McVey). Soon after the completion of the project, on April 5th of 2001 the Masonry Institute of Michigan and the Michigan Chapter of the American Institute of Architects presented the 2000 M Award for Excellence in Masonry Design to the Architects, Albert Kahn Associates, and the Dow Institute for Material Research.(Dewhurst and Stanford 139)
Features
The Engineering Building features four wings including the northeast, the northwest, the southeast, and the southwest and is split into a five-section room numbering system. The College of Engineering at Michigan State University has numerous departments including Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering, Chemical Engineering and Material Science, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Computer Science and Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Mechanical Engineering (College of Engineering). Many of these departments are housed mainly in the Engineering Building. The building also features one of twenty Sparty’s convenient store locations on the Michigan State campus. The Engineering Building features a courtyard at its center with an architectonic sculpture dedicated to Tau Beta Pi, the National Engineering Honor Society (Dewhurst and Stanford 139). Another feature for engineering students located at the Engineering Building is the Anibal Engineering Library located in room 1515. The library is in name of Benjamin H. Anibal and is one of eight different libraries on the Michigan State campus. The building also has a handful of computer labs and equipment available for engineering students provided by the Michigan State University Division of Engineering Computer Services (DECS). Computer labs provided by DECS feature color printing, scanners, projectors, and the option of making reservations at certain locations. Engineering computer labs provided by DECS are in rooms 1307, 1312, 1318, 1320, 1328, 2200, and 2314, providing twenty-four hour service to students (College of Engineering). DECS have a number of computers in each room ranging anywhere from six to sixty. Room 1320 features just six computers and is set up conveniently for group work (College of Engineering). Another feature for Michigan State students provided by DECS is located in room 1325 where students are allowed to check out equipment such as projectors, laptops, digital video cameras, and digital still cameras (College of Engineering). Aside from DECS the Engineering Building a number of labs for different departments. The Electrical and Computer Engineering department has ten different lab rooms including rooms ECE 203, ECE 303, ECE 331, ECE 345, ECE 415, ECE 476, ECE 477, ECE 480 for teaching, reaching six thousand seven hundred square feet housing around twenty-one different courses a semester (College of Engineering). More labs housed in the Engineering Building include the Engineering Machine Shop managed by Roy Bailff, and the Industrial Projects Lab for the Mechanical Engineering Department (College of Engineering). The Engineering Building also holds the Product Design Lab, Design Resource Room, and the Mechanical Engineering Computer Lab for engineering students (College of Engineering).
People
The Engineering Building is home to a number of offices for administrators and others involved with the College of Engineering. This includes the Dean of Engineering, Satish Udpa; Associate Dean of Undergraduate Studies, Thomas F. Wolff; Executive Staff Assistant, Pam Losner; Associate Dean for Research, Leo C. Kemple; Associate Dean for Graduate Studies and Faculty Development, Manoochehr Koochesfahani; Executive Secretary, Taylor Logan; Administrative Assistant, Nicole M. Minott; Associate Dean Emeritus, Ronald Rosenberg; and Administrative Associate, Mary Jane Schwartz (College of Engineering).
Associated Buildings
Other buildings involving engineering include the Engineering Research Complex located south of Clinical Center off of Service Road. The Engineering Research Complex underwent recent lab renovations and additions in 2010. Architects included Diclemente Siegel Design, Inc. and Fishbeck, Thompson, Carr & Huber and was completed by Rockford Construction (Michigan State University- Engineering Research Complex). The building holds numerous pieces of equipment for Electrical and Computer Engineering including a Pulsed Laser Deposition System, Micro Manipulate Cryogenic Probe System, NETZSCH STA 449 – QMS 403 System, and NETZCH LFA-457 Laser Flash System (College of Engineering). Aside from the Engineering Research Complex, another building involved with engineering on campus is A.W. Farrall Agricultural Engineering Hall. The building was originally known as Agricultural Engineering when it was constructed in 1948 by Munson Construction (Dewhurst and Stanford 151). It was rededicated and named on June 23rd of 1985 to honor Arthur W. Farrall and has kept it’s name to date (Dewhurst and Stanford 151). Farrall underwent a four thousand square foot addition in 1999 to update its facilities by Progressive Architecture (Dewhurst and Stanford 151). Farrall offers a number of classrooms for students and also holds offices for many people in the Department of Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering (College of Engineering).
References
College of Engineering. Michigan State University. Web. 13 Oct. 2011. Dewhurst, C. Kurt, and Linda O. Stanford. MSU Campus- Buildings, Places, Spaces. East Lansing: Michigan State University, 2002. Print. McVey, Susan. “DOW Gift Will Accelerate Composites Research.” MSU Alumni Magazine Spring 1992. Web. 21 Oct. 2011. Michigan State University- Engineering Research Complex. Rockford Construction, 2011. Web. 26 Oct. 2011. Seeley, Laura Luptowski. “Engineering the Michigan State University Campus.” Currents Magazine Spring 2008: 2-18. Print.
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