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Home / News & Publications / Michigan Catholic News / 2007 / Madonna 'going green' with new building

Madonna 'going green' with new building

Joe Kohn of The Michigan Catholic
Published October 12, 2007

Joe Kohn | The Michigan Catholic The Felician Sisters, joined by Cardinal Adam Maida, board members and others associated with Madonna University in Livonia, chat before the blessing the machinery that will help build the school’s $20 million addition.

Livonia — With its Oct. 2 groundbreaking, Madonna University has taken the first step toward building a $20-million science and media center in the middle of its campus on Levan and Schoolcraft roads.

The building, which will have many environmentally friendly features, is slated to be completed in 2009. It will house classes for the university's well-known nursing programs, other science-related classes, and an all-digital television and radio production studio for communication arts classes.

In addition to its academic uses, it's expected to have student gathering spaces, including dining options and wireless Internet access.

"This academic building will provide the venue for new accomplishments and for preparing Madonna students for careers as nurses, doctors, scientists, teachers and media artists," said university president Sr. Rose Marie Kujawa, CSSF, during a groundbreaking event last week attended by 500 students, faculty members, board members and area dignitaries.

Sr. Kujawa said the building's environmentally-friendliness is a testament to the Felician's "seriousness of purpose regarding the Franciscan value of reverence for creation."

The 60,000-square foot standalone building will be made from recycled and other environmentally-friendly materials such as cork and bamboo. It will use motion detecting lights to save energy, as well as waterless urinals and low-flush toilets.

School officials say they aim to make it the first building in Livonia to be certified for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) by the U.S. Green Building Council — meaning the building will meet a high national standard for environmental friendliness.

Joe Kohn | The Michigan Catholic Sr. Mary Renetta Rumpz, CSSF, addresses hundreds gathered for the groundbreaking of Madonna University’s science and media center.

An artist’s rendering shows what the science and mediacenter should look like once completed in the center of Madonna University’s Livonia campus.

The facility also will feature a courtyard to be named Cardinals Square in honor of Cardinal Edmund Szoka and Cardinal Adam Maida.

Cardinal Maida was on hand for the groundbreaking, as was Detroit Auxiliary Bishop John Quinn, who at the event was named honorary chair of Madonna's foundation board. Bishop Quinn, who had served as director of the archdiocese's Department of Education, told those gathered that it was at Madonna that he learned the joy of teaching in the late 1970s.

"Madonna University gave me so much," the bishop said. "It set me in the right position, and now I have a chance with so many of you to try to give something back."

At the groundbreaking, Cardinal Maida joined Sr. Kujawa and many of her sister Felicians in ceremoniously shoveling the first bit of dirt. The cardinal also blessed the four corners of the building site and some of the construction equipment, while the Madonna University chorale led the congregation in song.

"The new facility is a sign of strength, hope and vitality of this community," Cardinal Maida said. "Madonna University is here to stay, and it will continue to shape the minds and hearts of students and faculty for years to come."

The cardinal also expressed confidence in the university when it came to the $20 million price tag of the building. Cardinal Maida even joked at one point, "Twenty million? Well, that's a snap, if we all work together."

Already, educators at the university are looking forward to the new building — which will be the first standalone building on campus built in 40 years.

Theodore Biermann, Ph.D., Madonna University's dean of science and mathematics, said the laboratories in the new facility should be flexible enough to accommodate a wide array of courses, from forensic science to chemistry to emergency management.

"Basically, we're going to have a flexible, modern (building) with good lighting, good ventilation — and it's going to be a safer environment, too," said Biermann. "We're really excited about that. We're going to have more laboratories than we have now, too. So for the sciences, it's a big deal."

Though designs are still being fine-tuned, the building is expected to have nine laboratories, three research laboratories, the television and radio studio with editing lab, and the student gathering spaces. It will be situated between the University's main academic building and its residence hall.