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University of Michigan School of Information

First look: UMSI’s Leinweber Computer Science and Information Building

A corner window of the Leinweber building, seen from below.

Wednesday, 06/18/2025

By Abigail McFee

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. 

Interior, aerial view of a modern lounge area showing white tables, comfortable benches with a blue backrest, and a staircase, with large windows providing natural light.
Sunlight streams into a lounge area in the Leinweber Computer Science and Information Building. (Photo: Jeffrey M. Smith)

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.

First look: Leinweber Computer Science and Information Building

A view upward at the high ceiling over the Leinweber lobby, made from slatted wood with modern lighting accents, with an upper rail visible on the left and tall windows on the right
A wood-paneled ceiling with linear lights creates a striking entrance into the lobby of the Leinweber Building. (Photo: Jeffrey M. Smith)
Interior of a modern lounge space featuring rows of tables with chairs and casual seating areas along large windows, with natural light and a view of the exterior greenery.
The fourth-floor bridge between the Leinweber Building and the Beyster Building doubles as an intentional lounge space. (Photo: Jeffrey M. Smith)
A modern kitchen with a long island lined with benches, white tables, two refrigerators, and a view of lockers in the right corner
A view of part of the Kenlee Ray and Susan Quackenbush Student Lounge, complete with a modern kitchen and student lockers. (Photo: Jeffrey M. Smith)
Interior view of a long, well-lit corridor with patterned blue wallpaper and wooden wainscoting.
A second-floor corridor that leads to classrooms, lined with conversational benches. (Photo: Jeffrey M. Smith)
A dark blue wallpaper with an abstract design showing multicolored interconnected lines
It's all in the details: a close-up of the abstract design — featuring interconnected lines — that adorns the conversational benches in the second-floor corridor. (Photo: Jeffrey M. Smith)
An interior view of a wide window patterned with long stripes, or bird-safe glass, with a view of a clock tower
You can glimpse the red-tailed hawks on Lurie Tower through bird-safe glass designed to protect their flight. (Photo: Jeffrey M. Smith)
A corner of an office holds a tiered shelf filled with plants
UMSI staff and faculty put down roots in the new building. (Photo: Jeffrey M. Smith)
The Leinweber Building facilitates collaboration with plentiful meeting rooms. (Photo: Jeffrey M. Smith)
The Leinweber Building facilitates collaboration with plentiful meeting rooms. (Photo: Jeffrey M. Smith)
A view of a restroom door with a plaque to the right that says "inclusive restroom"
An inclusive restroom in the Leinweber Building. (Photo: Jeffrey M. Smith)
A close-up view of a nook in a building featuring yellow couches, round white tables, and yellow chairs beside tall windows allowing plenty of light in
A cozy nook to study or chat in soft light. (Photo: Jeffrey M. Smith)
A view of a brick building with a clock tower to its right and greenery, including the branches of a leafy tree, in the foreground
A view from the west of the Leinweber Building, embedded in a North Campus hillside. (Photo: Jeffrey M. Smith)
Bold lettering outside a glass facade of a building reads "Leinweber Computer Science and Information Building"
A bold first impression. (Photo: Jeffrey M. Smith)

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. 

A close-up of a glass railing with a silver rail. The railing has a frosted glass barcode motif all along it

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.

A detail shot of a staircase, with gray terrazzo steps on the left and cherry wood embedded benches on the right

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.

View through an architectural overpass connecting two buildings, looking down onto a pathway with three people walking and verdant campus grounds in the background.
The bridge that connects the Leinweber Building to the Beyster Building, with a glimpse of The Grove beneath it. (Photo: Jeffrey M. Smith)

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. 

A gift from the Leinweber Foundation, founded by software entrepreneur Larry Leinweber, helped to fund construction of the Leinweber Computer Science and Information Building. Additional UMSI donors who supported construction of the facility include Jason Blessing (BA ’93), Thomas C. Wilson (MILS ’87), Kenlee Ray (AMLS ’68) and Susan Quackenbush (AMLS ’75).