University of Michigan Munger Graduate Residences a ‘Build Michigan’ Award Winner

  • February 25, 2016

LANSING, Mich. – The University of Michigan’s Munger Graduate Residence was recognized Thursday, Feb. 25, as the Associated General Contractors of Michigan awarded the building with a “Build Michigan Award,” for a project that cost $10 million or more.

The graduate residence hall was named a “Grand Award” winner as well, which is a designation based on a project being singled out by the judges as exceptional among the award winners.

Recognition for a “Build Michigan Award” is based on general excellence of the entire project team including management, imagination, perseverance under unusual and challenging circumstances and innovative constructive techniques.

With Hartman-Cox Architects and Integrated Design Solutions, walbridge.completed the facility for U-M in the summer of 2015. The 370,000-square-foot building houses about 600 students in an apartment-styled layout.

For the project, Walbridge manufactured 730 bathroom units at a site 10 miles west of Ann Arbor, where 34 trades people fabricated five different models, including ADA accessible units. Each bathroom has a fully tiled shower, toilet, sink, quartz top, cabinetry, light fixtures and medicine cabinet. After flooding the floor of each unit with an inch of water and monitoring it for any leakage for 24 hours, units were drained, completed, shrink wrapped, and transported by truck to the job site on campus.

Modularization was also used to fabricate more than 650 modular mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) racks containing all MEP disciplines, which were then installed throughout the apartment floors. Bathroom units were positioned in place and hooked up to plumbing, drains and electrical systems.