IT WAS THE STATE OF MICHIGAN’S FIRST MASS TIMBER PROJECT, ONE THAT TRANSFORMED MSU’S AGING COAL-FIRED POWER PLANT INTO WHAT WILL BE A LASTING HUB OF LEARNING AND ROLLED OVER ITS MANY CHALLENGES — INCLUDING A GLOBAL PANDEMIC — LIKE THE SPARTANS’ DEFENSE.
BY A.D. THOMPSON
It’s lean and green and — like the Michigan State University football team on game day — unabashedly mean in the best ways, cut- ting a graceful silhouette as it welcomes undergrads in this nearly 170-year-old institution’s science, technology, engineering and mathematics programs into a brand-new collaborative space, built in part by an impressive number of MSU alumni.
Granger Construction Vice President Tim VanAntwerp counts himself among them. And it’s part of what makes the MSU STEM Teaching & Learning Facility project — the 2022 Construction Risk Partners Build America Grand Award winner — that much more special.
The facility replaced the university’s aging, coal-fired power plant, blended adaptive reuse with state-of-the-art infrastructure, upcycling vast portions of the plant — which threw many unexpected hurdles up during the project — and created 120,000 square feet of new space in which students are now thriving.
Granger and its partners came in ahead of schedule and under budget on the project, despite its interruption by an unprecedented global pandemic.
“Our trade partners, mostly local and a couple of national, were just exceptional, navigating an extremely complex project, and we couldn’t have done it without them.”
It was all about creating this next-level learning experience, says VanAntwerp, noting that project owner MSU set the tone for success at the outset, making bold decisions, creating an atmosphere of collaboration.
“They onboard their design and construction partners very early in the process, so you’re all unified from the beginning. It sets the tone for a high-performing team that can be very creative and adaptive and work together efficiently through challenges.”
And there were many, including its use of cross-laminated mass timber, the first project of its kind in the state.
“Nobody on our project team had ever done it,” says VanAntwerp, noting that making it work was an early mission from MSU. “There was an opportunity to stimulate the potential demand for mass timber in the state … there was economic development that could happen with it. But we all had to get very smart, very quickly on its implementation and went on that journey as a team.”
In the time since, he says, there are a num- ber of projects using and planning to use mass timber in Michigan.
“We’d like to think we helped in taking those courageous first few steps that allowed others to join in….”
Renovating a decades-old power plant was no cake walk, either.
“There had been some abatement by the university to make it safe, but outside of that it hadn’t been touched,” says VanAnt- werp. “The design team had to first envision how to gut a power plant, take out all the industrial components, all the boilers, all the unnecessary parts and pieces and bells and whistles and structure and hazardous materials and transform that into a safe, open, clean facility.”
Amid all that, came the unforeseen.
“Until we really pulled the thread on that sweater, we didn’t have any way to fully understand how complex it was going to be.”
As such, it took longer than expected. So, the team got creative.
“If we were going to have to spend more money and time on demolition, how do we get more efficient in other areas?” VanAn- twerp explains. “So, we found cost-saving measures in some of the ornamentation — in reusing those power plant features — and found ways to deliver the overall program, concept and design vision through less expensive material choices.
“Value engineering is sort of a dirty word these days, but that’s what we had to do.”
And then there was COVID, which struck their large workforce about two-thirds of the way through the undertaking, leaving them to navigate a shutdown in the middle of the campus, then restart the project safely. Which they did, all while helping the men and women on site feel invested in what they were building.
“Throughout construction, we told its story — literally, with storyboards. Today, when you walk through the building, it’s mostly experiential. There’s no sign that says ‘this is the former boiler room,’ but that was the idea — let’s make this state-of-the- art science building, which is brand new, cutting-edge and modern and honor the old space. Incorporate it.”
The goal, he says, was always twofold.
“It’s always important to communicate the purpose of the building and why it matters to all those working on it because they’re the ones putting their heart and soul into the building. Having them be a part of it hope- fully improves their experience and also the outcome of all the work they’re doing.”
From the university standpoint, there’s communication to the campus community: the goals, the vision, the methodology.
The storyboards aren’t something Granger does on every project, but it happens in multiple ways — signage, trailer-posted project goals, social media. Right now, they’re amid renovation on a library at another university.
“There’s a very unique history to that building and, similar to this project, it is going to be upgraded and transformed. Telling that story is very important to the owner.”
And to the team, many of whom — as MSU alumni — were emotionally invested in a project intimately entwined with their own journeys. Football helped bring all that home.
“As the project — which was adjacent to Spartan Stadium — opened, [ESPN’s] “College GameDay” came to campus and set up in and around STEM. So, seeing STEM on display, combining athletics and academics, watching STEM get highlighted on ESPN for the entire day, cameras zooming around, feeling all the energy and electricity around that? It was a proud moment.”
It combined all the things that it means to be a Spartan, says VanAntwerp, who comes from a small town.
“MSU is a big campus, but it always feels like home to me. And I think STEM provides that for a lot of people. The new facility is state of the art, it’s got every lab any undergrad could ever want to use, every amenity, but you walk in there and you just feel comfortable.”
It translates to his experience — and to that of his fellow alumni on the project. In particular walking through it now, seeing students in every corner, working collaboratively, being energized by what they are learning.
“The STEM building is the perfect embodiment of this place — all the resources, all the opportunity in the world — but it feels personal. It feels like home.”
It’s interesting. It’s unique. And, says VanAntwerp, it’s a showpiece for his alma mater, one that will attract new students and enhance the experience of those already in the mix. And it is the product of a team unafraid to choose tough over easy.
Steel over mass timber. New construction over renovation of an aging facility fraught with hazards. Sticking with the existing space without adding new. Traditional bidding instead of early-trade onboarding.
“But every single time along the way, every leg of the stool — owner, contractor, design team — we made hard decisions for the good of the project. And I think all those things came together and resulted in this incredibly beautiful, amazing but at the same time, very approachable project.”