With a design inspired by WMU’s natural surroundings and its Native American heritage, this project realized a student center that fosters connection, community and collaboration.

The facade features a unitized curtain wall system and glass fiber reinforced concrete cladding. Meanwhile, 242 custom cut aluminum sunshade fins attached to the curtain wall mullions encompass the exterior of the building.

One of the main features of this project is its “Heart,” or a three-story atrium space with a cantilevered staircase capped with a 70-ft skylight. About 17,000 sq ft of custom rift white oak panels clad the space as well. Given the space’s complex geometry, the team worked through several mock-ups and detailed shop drawing coordination review sessions. Construction required sequencing from the top down, so a three-story scaffold system was engineered and erected inside the space to assist various trade partners with access.

The structure of the building is primarily cast-in-place concrete, with a voided biaxial slab system called bubble deck used in the main floor structure of the building. In it, hollow plastic spheres create air-filled voids and reduce the volume of concrete required by up to 30%, saving material costs and reducing environmental impacts. Extensive preconstruction planning helped coordinate design of the concrete slab structure and MEP systems along with a specific concrete placement sequence, schedule and logistics.