A New Home for Pharmacy: University of Michigan Celebrates Grand Opening of Mass Timber College of Pharmacy
Designed by RDG Planning & Design, the new 142,000-SF College of Pharmacy demonstrates how one of architecture’s most energy- and carbon-intensive building types can address both embodied and operational carbon through integrated design.
The University of Michigan College of Pharmacy celebrated the grand opening of its new building on Friday, August 28, 2026, marking the completion of a transformative new home for one of the nation’s oldest pharmacy programs and a significant advancement in sustainable research architecture. Designed by RDG Planning & Design, the six-story, 142,000-SF facility brings the College’s teaching, research, administrative and student-focused spaces together under one roof. The building, located between the university’s central and medical campuses, creates new opportunities for learning, discovery and collaboration.
As the first mass timber structure on the University of Michigan campus and the world’s tallest mass timber research building, the College of Pharmacy demonstrates how low-carbon structural systems can address one of architecture’s most technically demanding building types. A hybrid system of cross-laminated timber, glulam, steel and concrete balances the complex structural, mechanical and spatial requirements of laboratories and classrooms with an intentional approach to using timber where it provides the greatest benefit.
“Mass timber allowed us to think about sustainability, technical performance and human experience as one idea,” said RDG Architect and Senior Partner Benjamin Kroll, AIA, LEED AP, NCARB. “This building demonstrates that the complex requirements of research architecture don’t have to stand in the way of meaningful carbon reduction. At the same time, the warmth and natural character of timber create an environment for science and learning that feels distinctly human.”
RDG’s design responds to the College’s growth and evolving needs by providing flexible environments that adapt to changes in pharmaceutical education and research. Active learning classrooms and research laboratories are integrated with faculty offices, student spaces and informal gathering areas, bringing together functions previously dispersed across campus. Throughout the building, daylight, outdoor views and exposed timber contribute to a welcoming environment, with collaborative spaces designed to encourage interaction among students, faculty and researchers.
An unusually constrained urban site also helped shape the architecture, with a 22-foot grade change informing both the vertical organization of the program and a stepped form that responds to the building’s neighbors. The upper floors help self-shade the transparent ground-level base, and a modular pattern related to research bench depths gives the high-performance façade an expression directly connected to the scientific work occurring inside.
Carbon reduction shaped the project at multiple scales, from structural materials to the energy-intensive systems required to support contemporary research. The project achieves a 59% reduction in embodied carbon, including biogenic carbon, and the final energy model projects 62.3% energy cost savings. The mass timber structure reduces reliance on carbon-intensive materials and stores biogenic carbon; operational demands are further reduced through a high-performance envelope, chilled beams and energy- and heat-recovery systems. Water conservation, native plantings and stormwater infrastructure round out the project’s sustainability strategies, supporting its pursuit of LEED Gold certification.
The building’s environmental ambitions are closely tied to human experience, with exposed timber bringing warmth and natural character to spaces typically defined by highly technical systems. Access to daylight and outdoor views enhances laboratories, offices and gathering areas throughout the building. The result is a research environment designed not simply to consume fewer resources, but to create a welcoming setting for the people advancing pharmaceutical science.
The University of Michigan hosted grand opening events August 27–28, culminating in the August 28 ribbon-cutting ceremony. The opening realizes the College’s long-term vision to unite its community and demonstrates a broader possibility for the profession: technically demanding research environments can meaningfully reduce their carbon impact without compromising the human experience at the heart of scientific discovery.