It used to light up the entire Michigan State campus, but this coal-fired power plant has been dark for half a century — until now.
Rising from the ashes, or from the coal, is a brand new building that doesn’t need coal or boilers, just students and imagination.
“We left everything exposed so that we can understand, and get students to hopefully understand is, there’s a lot of things that go into provide a comfortable environment that everyone wants to have,” Nestor Deocampo said.
Just ask Deocampo and Sheena Ballbach, they get to run the new STEM Teaching and Learning Facility.
It has laboratories, a restaurant, and nooks to study in.
“We had about close to about a 6-month delay…COVID. We were one of the first projects to get authorized by the board to continue, because of the importance that we felt we needed to have this building open for our students,” Deocampo said.
And the students seem to approve, Makenzie Zdybel is fond of the renovated facility.
“I like how they preserve the old architect of the power plant that they had here, and the engines down there really add to the environment.”
The STEM Teaching and Learning Facility is around 150,000 square feet, which means the area can be used for so much more than just classrooms.
“What we tried really hard to do is create an environment where all of our students could feel comfortable fid a place that they want to go and be in for all-day at times. Because we realized very early on that we don’t have a lot of places where the students can gather as a community,” Deocampo said.
This gives students the inspiration they need to develop new innovative ideas.
“I think it creates a good working environment for people that are in the STEM majors to really have inspiration.”
And half a century later, the Shaw Lane Power Plant is still serving its purpose of bringing light to campus — in a different way.
“The most meaningful thing to me is just to see the enjoyment in students for their education at MSU,” Ballbach said.