News Story

The University of Michigan will add 2,300 student beds to Central Campus this month with the opening of Wolverine Village, a new residential community developed around the idea that where students live impacts how well they connect, study and succeed on campus.

One of the most distinguishing characteristics of the new complex, which includes five residence halls and a dining hall, is that it was shaped directly by students.

More than 2,600 undergraduates contributed to the planning through surveys, town halls and design sessions on everything from room layouts to dining and gathering spaces. Even the name — Wolverine Village — came from student input.

community tours

• Michigan Housing will offer daily tours of Wolverine Village beginning Sept. 2. The tours will highlight the residence halls, gathering spaces, and artwork. Tour capacity is limited, and registration is required.

“Wolverine Village is the direct result of listening to our students,” said Martino Harmon, vice president for student life. “Every space was designed to foster community, support learning, and keep student success front and center.”

Wolverine Village is the first U-M housing built specifically for first-year students since Oxford Houses opened in 1963, addressing a longstanding shortage of undergraduate housing on Central Campus.

The 2,300 additional beds increase U-M’s undergraduate housing capacity by about 25%, meaning every first-year student who applies for university housing by the spring deadline can live on Central Campus if they choose. The expansion also creates more affordable opportunities for returning and transfer students to live in university housing.

Early move-in is scheduled for Aug. 22-23, followed by general move-in Aug. 24-30.

Incorporating student input

The residence halls range from five to seven stories and include doubles, singles and suites, as well as a new “tripleable double,” a larger double that can be converted to accommodate three students if needed to meet demand.

Based on the student feedback, the halls boast abundant natural light, a mix of individual and collaborative study areas, flexible community spaces, varied dining options and visible sustainability features.

Some of those features are firsts for U-M. Wolverine Village is the first housing facility to combine geo-exchange heating and cooling, solar panels and an all-electric dining hall. It is also the first undergraduate residence hall to offer covered bicycle parking, a bicycle repair room, and a rooftop courtyard.

Other firsts include a designated pet relief area for residents with support animals and a centralized package room in Building 3 where students can retrieve packages from lockers 24/7.

Laundry rooms are also located in each residence hall, and machine use is now included in the student room rate, so no coins or credit cards will be required.

Honoring a U-M difference maker

Buildings 1-4 are currently unnamed, but Building 5 carries a name with significance: Dr. E. Royster Harper Hall.

The residence hall honors Harper, vice president emerita for student life, who played a key role in expanding and renovating U-M’s residence hall system and advancing efforts related to inclusivity and student well-being. It is the first building on the U-M campus named for a Black woman.

“Dr. Harper was a transformative force for countless students during her four decades of leadership,” Harmon said. “Naming Harper Hall in her honor celebrates that legacy and reinforces just how vital a sense of belonging is to student success.”

Harper Hall will also be home to Bridge Scholars Plus, a yearlong living-learning community for first-year students who participated in the Summer Bridge Scholars Program.

Dining designed for broad dietary needs

Building 1 houses an all-you-care-to-eat dining hall with more than 800 seats, double-height windows, and a living green wall designed to bring a piece of the outdoors inside year-round.

The dining hall will typically be open from 7 a.m.-9 p.m., and its food stations were designed with flexibility in mind.

“We have woks, we have flat-top grills, we have chargrills, we have ovens,” said Steve Giardini, senior director of Michigan Dining.

That equipment, he said, allows the staff to prepare a wide range of cuisines, as well as meals free of gluten and the nine major food allergens.

On the second floor are private dining and event rooms, a rooftop courtyard and a teaching kitchen developed through a partnership between Michigan Dining and LSA.

The new dining hall is also the first all-electric culinary space on campus.

“If you look at the history of Michigan Dining, we have a long history of leading the campus in sustainability initiatives, and moving from natural gas to electricity is something we’ve wanted to do for the environment,” Giardini said.

Making shared spaces feel like home

The interiors of Wolverine Village draw inspiration from the state of Michigan, with white pines, apple blossoms, robins and other state symbols appearing throughout the design.

Each residence hall also takes inspiration from one of the five Great Lakes, with its own color palette and original artwork:

• Building 1, Lake Superior
• Building 2, Lake Huron
• Building 3, Lake Michigan
• Building 4, Lake Ontario
• Harper Hall, Building 5, Lake Erie

“These buildings are our students’ homes, and we want the spaces to feel comfortable,” said Rick Gibson, U-M’s director of housing. “So we were very intentional with the selection of artwork throughout the complex. Most of it is from local artists or artists with a connection to the university.”

Signs next to the artworks will tell visitors more about the artists and pieces, and art guides will be available at the front desks later this fall for those who want to explore all five buildings.

The emphasis on belonging extends to four dedicated spaces throughout the complex too. The Grace Lee Boggs Multicultural Lounge is in Building 1, and Building 3 houses the Mino-bimaadiziwin Multicultural Lounge. Harper Hall includes the Origins Multicultural Engagement Space, while Building 4 has a Reflection Room for meditation, prayer and personal reflection.

Creating connections outside

Michigan-inspired details continue outside as well. On the exterior tower of Building 1, there are four figures carved in Indiana limestone that feature wolverine “grotesques.” Each figure represents one stage of the U-M undergraduate experience: first-year reader, second-year athlete, third-year chemist and fourth-year leader.

Finally, there is a tree-lined pedestrian walkway known as “Wolverine Way” along the western edge of Wolverine Village that connects the development with Revelli Hall and Elbel Field, where the Michigan Marching Band practices.

In 2024, the original Elbel Field was moved one block north to make way for Wolverine Village. The relocated field includes markings that match those in Michigan Stadium, a taller instructional tower, an upgraded sound system, a video board and an additional turf field.

Plans for a potential second phase of Wolverine Village remain under development and will be presented to the Board of Regents for consideration at a later date.