The Ford Robotics Building has completed and opened on the University of Michigan (U-M) campus. The $75 million project represents a singular new home for the university’s relationship with Ford and acts as a showcase for robotics research, cross disciplinary collaboration, and innovative industry/education collaboration.
Located on the University of Michigan North Campus, the building anchors the west end of a Michigan Avenue mobility testbed that begins in Detroits Corktown neighborhood and runs through Dearborn to Ann Arbor. The four-story, 134,000-sf project is an interdisciplinary center for mathematics, engineering, and computer programming faculty and researchers. The facility will be home to researchers that were previously spread across 23 separate buildings and is also the first robotics facility to co-locate an industry team (Ford’s mobility research center) with a university’s robotics leadership.
HED, in an effort to reflect a robotics program incorporates both theory and making, designed the building to appear both extroverted and enclosed simultaneously. From the outside, the most striking feature is the glass-clad facade that curves along Hayward Street. Composed of large bands of fritted glass with 30-inch-deep sunshades spaced 42 inches apart, the south-oriented glass wall allows diffused daylight deep into the building interior. The facade also allows visitors to see the activities occurring within.
Upon entry, visitors arrive within a four-story atrium defined on one side by the curved smooth-facing glass wall and balconies for the top three floors. The atrium is designed for a wide variety of uses and special events with a cafe, large-scale video screen, and a sophisticated sound system. The atrium is heated through displacement ventilation. Researchers all enter the labs via a shared team collaboration space, ensuring chance encounters, interaction, and collaboration between them.
HED designed the Ford Robotics Building to promote proximity and spontaneous interaction between students, faculty, researchers, and visiting industry professionals. The building includes the new hub of the U-M Robotics Institute on the first three floors and Ford’s robotic and mobility research lab on the fourth floor.
The custom U-M research labs are designed for robots that fly, walk, roll, and augment the human body. Multiple labs are incorporated within the building, including the Ronald D. And Regina C. McNeil Walking Robotics Laboratory for developing and testing legged robots. This specific lab has an in-ground treadmill that can hit 31 mph and a 20% grade, as well as carry obstacles to test walking robots that could aid in disaster relief and lead to better prosthetics and exoskeletons. A rehabilitation lab is designed for advanced prosthetics and robotic controls with a movable “earthquake platform” that can tilt in any direction while force-feedback plates measure ground contact.
A three-story fly zone allows for the testing of drones and other autonomous aerial vehicles indoors. An outdoor Mars yard was designed with input from planetary scientists at U-M and NASA to enable researchers and student teams to test rover and lander concepts on a landscape that mimics the Martian surface. An AI-designed “robot playground” outdoor obstacle course is designed for testing robots on stairs, rocks, and water surrounded by motion capture cameras. A high-bar garage space for self-driving cars allows for teams to test connected and automated vehicles in urban and suburban environments. Ford roboticists occupy the building’s fourth floor research lab and offices.
The Ford Robotics Building is expected to achieve LEED Gold certification. HED provided architecture, landscape architecture, interior design, and structural, mechanical, and electrical engineering services on the project.
Related Stories
| Aug 11, 2010
Webcor, Hunt Construction lead the way in mixed-use construction, according to BD+C's Giants 300 report
A ranking of the Top 30 Mixed-Use Contractors based on Building Design+Construction's 2009 Giants 300 survey. For more Giants 300 rankings, visit http://www.BDCnetwork.com/Giants
| Aug 11, 2010
Jacobs, HDR top BD+C's ranking of the nation's 100 largest institutional building design firms
A ranking of the Top 100 Institutional Design Firms based on Building Design+Construction's 2009 Giants 300 survey. For more Giants 300 rankings, visit http://www.BDCnetwork.com/Giants
| Aug 11, 2010
Polshek Partnership unveils design for University of North Texas business building
New York-based architect Polshek Partnership today unveiled its design scheme for the $70 million Business Leadership Building at the University of North Texas in Denton. Designed to provide UNT’s 5,400-plus business majors the highest level of academic instruction and professional training, the 180,000-sf facility will include an open atrium, an internet café, and numerous study and tutoring rooms—all designed to help develop a spirit of collaboration and team-oriented focus.
| Aug 11, 2010
UCLA to get more graduate housing
The University of California, Los Angeles, has begun a new graduate housing project that will occupy 275,000 sf of the campus. The Wayburn Terrace Graduate Housing Project, led by California-based construction management and consulting firm Gafcon, includes a residential building comprising 500 studio apartments, a commons building, and administrative offices.
| Aug 11, 2010
Fashion school gives old building a make over
A new art facility for LIM, the College for the Business of Fashion, in midtown Manhattan is the result of a gut renovation of a six-story townhouse-school built in 1880. The new facility will continue LIM's mission of educating undergraduates on the business side of fashion. Architecture firm Butler Rogers Baskett transformed the old building's claustrophobic layout into a modern, multifunctio...
| Aug 11, 2010
Biomedical center to join London's research scene
The UK Centre for Medical Research and Innovation, a partnership of scientific organizations researching new treatments for illnesses such as cancer and heart disease, hopes to attract leading medical scientists to its planned research center. Designed by HOK London, the building will be located on 3.
| Aug 11, 2010
San Diego Mesa College enhances math and science facilities
A $92 million, 180,000-sf instructional center soon will rise at the heart of San Diego Mesa College in California. Slated to open in November 2012, the Math and Science Building will be funded by Propositions S and N construction bond program. The blueprint calls for four floors of classrooms, laboratory space, and offices for several science departments.
| Aug 11, 2010
Tufts University puts bite into new dental school addition
The recently dedicated Tufts University School of Dental Medicine, in Boston, represents the culmination of a 22-month vertical expansion of the school's original 1972 building. The $68 million project involved constructing five new stories totaling 95,000 sf atop the building's existing 10 stories, which were also remodeled.
| Aug 11, 2010
Northeast Lakeview College opens in Texas, to serve 15,000 students
After four years of construction, Northeast Lakeview College, the newest addition to Alamo Colleges, is complete. Designed by Overland Partners Architects in collaboration with Ford Powell & Carson, the nine-building, 285-acre campus in Universal City, near San Antonio, will serve up to 15,000 students.
| Aug 11, 2010
Dual physics buildings aim for LEED Silver
Two new physics buildings providing 197,000 sf of teaching, study, and office space are opening at Texas A&M University. The $82.5-million George P. Mitchell '40 Physics Building and the George P. and Cynthia Woods Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics and Astronomy offer new research laboratories, graduate and undergraduate lounges, offices, a 468-seat lecture hall, and a 180-seat aud...
