With its broad view of North Campus, the new home of the University of Michigan School of Information brings to mind capacious words like “space” and “growth.”

The dream behind the Leinweber Computer Science and Information Building, a $145M construction project first announced by the university in 2021 and made possible by a $25M gift from the Leinweber Foundation, was to create a dynamic hub for information science, computer science and the top scholars advancing innovation in each.

Last month, that dream took form as UMSI faculty and staff for the first time walked through a wide entrance they had seen only in architectural renderings.

They settled into sunlit offices and explored common spaces furnished in softer hues of maize and blue. Beyond the building’s bird-safe glass facade, grasses and succulents were beginning to take root on green roofs. A groundhog scampered by.

The 163,000-square-foot complex, connected to Michigan Engineering’s Bob and Betty Beyster Building, brings together two fields boldly charting the future. While providing expansion space for the Computer Science and Engineering Division, the Leinweber Building accommodates UMSI’s tremendous growth — not only in student enrollment, but in vision and reach.

Now the fourth-largest of U-M’s 19 schools and colleges, UMSI offers five degree programs, including a fully online Master of Applied Data Science. This fall brings the first-ever class of sophomores to the Bachelor of Science in Information program, which will continue to be based on Central Campus; the launch of a minor in human-centered artificial intelligence; and record enrollment across the BSI and Master of Science in Information programs.  

In its recently launched capital campaign — “Look to Michigan for tech solutions that put people first” — the school shared a commitment to addressing urgent societal challenges through a human-centered approach to technology.

This synergy between people, information and technology is reflected in the design of the Leinweber Building. A central staircase rises through the lobby, bordered on one side by a glass rail with a barcode motif. On the other side, built-in wooden benches create a natural gathering place for students to sit and chat. Here, the computational and the conversational flow together.

Students will enjoy spaces that encourage bold ideas and collaboration across disciplines — from modern classrooms with state-of-the-art technology, including three 100-seat lecture halls, to the Blessing Family Maker Lab, a design lab and an augmented reality/virtual reality lab.

Faculty and PhD students work from offices on the Leinweber Building’s fourth and fifth floors. UMSI staff, who previously worked from five buildings in downtown Ann Arbor, are now closely situated on the second and third floors.

During move-in week, the phrase “Live, Laugh, Leinweber” circulated playfully, as staff experienced the joy of spontaneous hallway conversations and shared coffee breaks. A Wednesday Walk Break invites colleagues to explore North Campus’s wooded paths, while a sand volleyball league brings staff, faculty and PhD students together to bump, set and spike on the courts in The Grove.

This is the energy of summer, but it’s also the feeling of a shared future — one made possible by students, faculty and staff creating, thinking, collaborating, taking risks, critiquing and celebrating in spaces that will lose their “new building smell” but not their sense of purpose.

The Leinweber Building isn’t just UMSI’s long-awaited new home. It’s the beginning of what we do next.

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