Planet Blue Begins with You

Discover how you can make an impact in U-M sustainability efforts

Twenty-two U-M undergraduates created the first off-the-grid straw bale structure using ancient building techniques located on a hilltop overlooking Douglas Lake at the U-M Biological Station.

Led by professor, Joe Trumpey, an associate professor in the Penny W. Stamps School of Art & Design and the Program in the Environment, the project is part of the Green Building class at U-M. The students spent 31 days building the structure made of straw, adobe plaster and a metal roof. A solar array will provide for the building’s electricity needs, and basic plumbing is in place if the biological station wants to complete that installation in the future.

Planet Blue Begins with You

Discover how you can make an impact in U-M sustainability efforts

Students in an engaged learning workshop called Practice Sessions mocked-up a design of a solar umbrella roof for a former wallpaper factory that now is a graduate art center at UCLA.  

Practice Sessions is a project funded by the university’s Third Century Initiative. U-M leadership dedicated $25 million to faculty and staff projects that promised to transform learning as the university, celebrating its bicentennial this year, defined education for its next century.