Hi, My name's Chris Thronson and I am the Construction Representative for the Plant
Sciences Expansion shown behind me and today I'd like to invite you to come along for a
tour of this exciting building.
So come along with me.
Okay.
We're in the basement of the Plant Sciences Expansion.
The Plant Sciences Expansion connects the Plant Sciences building to Plant Biology and
there's actually a connecting link that's behind me.
What they do in the basement is predominantly they have herbariums and growth rooms, so
that they'll be able to have live plants in here and do all kinds of different experiments
with the plants.
So in essence there's a lot of activity in here and it's a really, really cool space.
One of the neat things is this extensive scaffolding that was installed underneath the gathering
space.
The purpose of this is so we can drive equipment into the courtyard without having to go in
the back of Plant Biology and interrupt anything to do with gardens.
There are some very elaborate gardens and we're able to preserve them by using this
technique.
So when we get to this gathering space I'll be able to speak to that and you'll see we've
actually been able to drive heavy equipment over this slab.
We're standing right now in the middle of the gathering space.
This is a space that's going to get a tremendous amount of student activity.
And what's really cool about it is it's two stories and there's going to be glass on the
North side and glass on the South side.
So when you drive by on Wilson Road, you're going to be able to still see things in the
gardens, and like I said there will be a lot of students who come and congregate in this
area.
Also behind me, is the brick that was selected for this project.
What's really cool about this brick is it has a ceramic coating on it that's been fired,
they've added grit, there's five different bricks that make up this color.
It's unique to the campus because typically you match the brick on each building but since
we're tying Plant Biology to Plant Science, they've got a brick that's gonna have a tone
to it that looks like plants and it's going to be very friendly with the environment and
it's just a really cool, unique brick.
Okay, for those of you who have attended Construction Junction, we've often talked about this diagonal
wall.
It's a complete floor-to-ceiling wall of glass, and it's the connecting link between the existing
Plant Science and the new addition.
It comes off at an angle and it's just a really cool aspect of the building.
To your left, this whole area is the exterior wall.
It's comprised of conference rooms, offices, and shared gathering spaces.
It brings in a tremendous amount of light.
There's also a wall of glass, I'm actually standing in the corridor, but there's going
to be a wall of glass right here, there's going to be a wall of glass here to your right.
And inside that glass it's going to be all lab space.
From the West end to the East end is all lab spaces, so when you're working in this space
you can literally have an unobstructed view and be able to see outside and bring in all
this natural light and it's a really great environment to do your work in.
What this is known as, is the featured stair.
It's in its raw state right now.
On the exterior the glass is green, with the exception in front of the stair which is clear.
All of these stairs will be clad in stainless steel.
Right now we're standing on the roof.
Behind us is the mechanical penthouse with air-handling units, chillers, strobic fans.
So everything you need mechanically for the building is on the inside.
But on the outside we're left with just this spectacular view.
You can see all the way to downtown Lansing to the West.
This site below us down here will be the location of F-RIB, the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams.
And it's just a beautiful view and a spectacular building.
Okay, another cool aspect of this building is the roof above the gathering spaces will
be all green roof.
You'll be able to see it from the third and fourth floor,
you'll also be able to see plants from when you drive by on Wilson.
There's going to be a variety of plantings, most of
them are going to be tall in nature, and it's very fitting that we would have a
green roof on the Plant Sciences Expansion.
Alright, well this concludes our tour of the Plant Sciences Expansion, thanks a lot for
coming along with me, and Go Spartans!
Have a great day!