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Home > Issue by Date > June 2007

History Lessons

At Michigan State University, a team does its homework to rehabilitate a faculty building to its original splendor.

By Anne Vazquez

In October 2005, the dedication of Marshall-Adams Hall at Michigan State University (MSU) in East Lansing, MI marked an achievement borne of historical research, resourceful planning, and teamwork. In both appearance and function, the building had been given a new lease on life. The reason for this transformation was a $6 million gift presented by an MSU alumnus in 2002.

Built as a bacteriology laboratory in 1903, Marshall Hall (renamed Marshall-Adams to honor Walter Adams, a past president of MSU and admired professor of the donor) was serving as offices for members of the economics department when the opportunity to perform the project arose. The configuration of the building had changed a great deal over the years, and the aim was to rehabilitate the building with sensitivity for its former use and character. Additionally, it would be outfitted with new and upgraded building systems.

Planning The Project
With the funds available to renovate Marshall Hall, Greg Houghtaling, AIA, senior architect in Engineering and Architectural Services at MSU, created a committee comprised of MSU faculty and staff to provide input into the planning and design of the project. Among the members of this team were the chair and two members of the economics department; a member of administration from the facilities planning group; and an MSU mechanical engineer.

After soliciting and viewing presentations from several architectural and design firms, the MSU committee decided to hire Lord, Aeck & Sargent. With an office in Ann Arbor, MI, one of the firm’s focuses is on historic preservation; consequently, the committee found it to be a good fit.

Says MSU president, Lou Anna K. Simon: “It is a special kind of design firm that allows its own work to tread lightly around that of a predecessor, creating something uniquely its own while honoring the work of another.”

Susan Turner, AIA, principal and director of Lord, Aeck & Sargent’s historic preservation studio, said from the firm’s Atlanta, GA office, “The client really loved the building. They had a real desire to understand what it had been originally and to try to recapture some of the essence of its original qualities.”

Splitting The Difference
Planning the configuration of the new Marshall-Adams Hall presented a challenge. The building housed the economics department faculty, as did a neighboring facility, Old Botany Hall. However, the donor had specifically directed the funds be used for Marshall Hall, so the team needed to

decide what spaces would be housed in there while keeping in mind a future, yet unspecified, rehabilitation of Old Botany.

In order to facilitate this process, the team referred to a campus master plan that MSU had created in recognition of approaching its 150-year anniversary in 2005. “First, we had Lord, Aeck & Sargent refer to our existing master plan as it related to the two economics buildings,” says Houghtaling, who has been with MSU for seven years and headed up this project. “We had to find a way to create as many offices as were needed and to provide for future growth without knowing when or if Old Botany would be renovated.”

Additionally, there was a one story wing attached to the east side of the building. This was originally a stable, used as an infirmary in later years, and more recently had been divided into offices. Another space had been added on in the 1990s, which served as a seminar room.

“We wanted to maximize the number of offices within the space,” explains Houghtaling. “This included evaluating the seminar space. The structure had not been done too badly, but it didn’t really blend well. The mechanical equipment was also very noisy in there.” Ultimately, the team decided to remove the seminar room and restore the building’s original footprint.

Other elements removed from the exterior included a set of stairs attached to the rear of the building and a small addition that housed an accessible ramp. The stairs had been added in the 1940s to provide a second means of egress, but they were placed in an inconvenient location. The renovation included locating a stairwell inside the building to replace the exterior stairs. An elevator was also added to provide barrier free access to all levels.

Opening Up The Inside
Lord, Aeck & Sargent conducted historical research and investigated existing physical conditions to understand the building’s initial configuration. Rob Yallop, preservation planner with the firm’s Ann Arbor, MI office, headed up the process.

“We try to develop a thorough understanding of the history and evolution of the building during the earliest phases of a project,” explains Yallop. “As part of this, I spent several afternoons at the campus archives collecting historic photos, yearbooks, and written narratives, as well as related reports given throughout the years. This gave us an understanding of the original design, spaces, and materials.”

The architects ascertained that the original layout consisted of a central masonry core surrounded by circulation spaces, with large classrooms and laboratories situated along the exterior walls. High ceilings and tall windows allowed an abundance of natural light into the building.

In 2002, the internal layout was quite different. The interior had been modified in the 1950s when the building was converted to offices. As Houghtaling explains it, this had been an inexpensive renovation with functionality as the goal. No structural walls were moved; rather drywall was used to divide the spaces. As a result, most of the building’s historic features had been removed.

Says Houghtaling, “We basically gutted the inside, taking it down to the rafters. We also took a major bite out of the center of the building to place the elevator and new stairwell.” Restrooms were also housed on each floor within the central core.

“For the most part, the building program was small, multiple faculty offices,” says Turner. “The challenge was to recreate large open interiors while also achieving the multiple offices.” The solution was to divide the office spaces with casework partitions that went up to just above the door height. Above that, glazing was used to reach the ceiling.

“This allows the natural light to flow in to the interior spaces from the windows,” Turner explains. “It gives a sense of what the original spaces might have looked like. That was one of the really fulfilling aspects of this project; we were able to integrate the modern needs of the building in a way that was truly consistent with its original interior qualities.”

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Plans for interior changes also included the building’s main staircase. After removing plywood that had covered the baluster, the team found an oak gothic arch design and agreed it should be saved. Restored to its original appearance, the staircase once again serves as a grand entrance to the building.

As with the interior, exterior restoration aimed to return the building to its original appearance. Designed in the Romanesque style, the building is constructed of red brick, granite, and limestone. To maintain its integrity, Yallop explains, “We performed an analysis to make sure the bricks and mortar mixes used for the repairs were compatible—both visually and physically—with the historic material.”

Architectural elements discovered in historical documents were also addressed. “Over the past century, a lot of the detail on the building had been lost,” explains Houghtaling. “This included cresting on the roofs and the removal of a large, central chimney. Also, at some point, the window frames and cornices were painted white, whereas the historical photos showed them to have been painted terra cotta.”

Working from photos, the team discovered the central chimney had penetrated the roof when the building was first constructed, though it did not remain there for very long. “We have pictures of when the building was just completed,” says Houghtaling. “And, in pictures from a few years later, the chimney was gone. My guess is it was probably too drafty with the winter climate here.”

This was because, in the original construction, the chimney was connected to an interior shaft that served as an air venting feature—letting air up and out of the building. “At the lowest level of the shaft, there was an ice room. Our theory was that this formed a natural ventilation and cooling principle,” says Houghtaling.

Past Meets Present
As part of the project, virtually all of the building systems in Marshall-Adams Hall were replaced or upgraded. This included new HVAC, electrical, plumbing, fire alarm and protection, and computer networking systems. Maintaining the historical integrity of the building was a primary goal in planning the configuration and installation of these elements.

“As is the case with many historic buildings, the HVAC system was a challenge,” says Yallop. “We wanted to maintain the tall, original ceiling height. To do that, we minimized the size of the ductwork and equipment.”

In terms of ductwork placement, the team worked to find existing spaces within the building structure. For instance, Yallop notes that much of the horizontal ductwork was placed between the joists, while the team took advantage of historic vertical laboratory ventilation chases to place ductwork running between floors.

Minimizing the space occupied by the mechanical equipment was also important, and the solution was to place these items on the top floor of the building. “We were able to divide the equipment and tuck it under the eaves,” explains Houghtaling.

The existing chimney shaft came into play here as well. At some point in the building’s history, occupants used some of the shaft space to house additional building needs, such as rest rooms. Therefore, the shaft no longer ran up and down the entire height of the building; rather it was filled with various components on the first three floors, while at the highest level, the shaft did remain open. This open space became the main route for intake and exhaust air for the HVAC system.

Another 100 Years
The restoration of Marshall-Adams Hall marked another step toward the eventual goal of renovating the six historic buildings located on MSU’s “Laboratory Row.” Further, the modern building systems and ADA compliance ensured the building would be functional as well.

“What gives me the most pride is that we have given the building an opportunity for a new lease on life,” says Houghtaling. “It is now a structurally sound, relatively low maintenance building which meets all of the current codes in terms of accessibility, safety, and usability.” It appears the building will be a proud part of MSU for another 100 years.

This article was based on interviews with Houghtaling (houghtal@pplant.msu.edu), Turner (sturner@lasarchitect.com), and Yallop (ryallop@lasarchitect.com).

To share a new construction or renovation story, e-mail avazquez@groupc.com. Past Showcase features can be found on www.TodaysFacilityManager.com.

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