Within an unbelievably tight construction time frame of only three short months, extensive renovations transformed the first floor of Holden Hall. Additionally, minor renovations were made to 624 student dorm rooms.
The entire first floor was demolished to incorporate an entirely new contemporary layout consisting of a central open mall area including, a new reception desk, mailroom, recycle room, and a high tech lounge area for class breakout sessions. Six classrooms, upgraded to meet ADA codes, received new operable partition walls, paint, ceilings and fan coil units for ventilation. Six student rooms were renovated into two apartments and four new apartments were built to house residence hall staff. A new Game Room provided gathering space for students to play console games, watch movies, or work on class projects. A total of 197,000 SF of renovation work was completed.
Challenges to the $5.5 million Holden Hall project were many. Throughout its duration, portions of the building remained occupied requiring uninterrupted services and utilities to these areas. Additionally, the already short construction time frame was intensified by concealed field conditions which mandated portions of the mall area be redesigned thus causing delays which had to be made up. Finally, all construction and demolition waste had to be sorted and recycled in keeping with Michigan State University's commitment to sustainable construction practices.
