Rachel Upjohn Building, University of Michigan Health System, Ann Arbor, Michigan

In October, the University of Michigan Health System opened its 112,500-square-foot Rachel Upjohn Building, designed to house clinical, research, and meeting spaces.

Lin Jones, University of Michigan Photo Services

The first floor is reserved for clinical care, with 335 offices and outpatient treatment rooms for mental health and substance abuse treatment, along with two telemedicine suites. The 54,000-square-foot second floor is set aside for research by members of U-M's Depression Center and Department of Psychiatry. A lower garden level houses a 120-seat auditorium and conference center.

The facility was designed to be full of light, a goal easily accomplished with 8,500 square feet of glass curtain windows including a glass-enclosed entrance lobby, an atrium topped by a massive skylight, and a rear façade made entirely of sheet glass. All these windows provide for natural light to bathe the warmly furnished interior and provide views onto the more than 1,200 trees on the grounds.

Designed by Albert Kahn Associates, the Rachel Upjohn Building has a contemporary exterior encompassing glass, metal, and 83,000 bricks. The facility was built using 675 tons of steel and cost $41 million.