The building combines state-of-the-art teaching facilities with social spaces and creates a new front door in the Broad College of Business.
The Edward J. Minskoff Pavilion at Michigan State University has transformed the Eli Broad College of Business into a unified complex at the forefront of business education. This three-story, 100,000sqft structure combines modern teaching facilities with contemporary social spaces, delivering a socially active learning environment for students, faculty, corporate partners, and alumni to collaborate in forming future generations of business leaders. Flexible spaces, classrooms and technology integration promote academic and professional excellence designed to problem solve in today’s global marketplace.
Placed within the heart of the university along the Red Cedar River, the geometry of the building completes the sequence of spaces in the college’s existing facilities as well as a new connection to the river walk. A riparian meadow aims to manage stormwater and to create a natural habitat along the Red Cedar River.
The design weaves together classrooms, team rooms and social spaces on a variety of scales, inspired by Broad College’s team-based community culture. These features permeate all aspects of the academic experience through an emphasis on collaborative environments supporting the college’s cutting-edge research curriculum.
The central communal atrium is framed by two program “bars”, focusing views through the building to the river and landscape. Classrooms, student services and administrative spaces are dispersed through all levels and placed around the central social space. Students are encouraged to use the spaces for independent study, made more inviting from the natural light filling the spaces from skylights and clerestory windows along the atrium length.