With brand-new, technologically innovative classrooms, interactive study and lounge spaces and an internationally focused cafeteria and residence hall, North Quadrangle is preparing for its grand opening in the fall.

In an exclusive tour given to the Michigan Daily, University officials showcased the 10-story residential building and seven-story academic building, which comprise North Quad. The residence hall will feature state-of-the-art technology while supporting international involvement and programs for students. As the construction progresses, four academic units and the School of Information prepare for their transition into North Quad, bringing with them visions of collaboration and new teaching methods.

With student move-in on Sep. 3, North Quad will house around 460 occupants — all of whom are sophomores, juniors and seniors — in its residential building. The academic building will contain the School of Information, Department of Communication Studies, Language Resource Center, Sweetland Writing Center and the Department of Screen Arts and Cultures, including the Donald Hall Collection.

In the residential building, all floors will be co-ed and will feature a mixture of suite-style rooms and single rooms. The dorm will also feature central air conditioning, as well as wireless Internet access.

At the top of the residential building, the “Tower Room” will feature community programs and activities, as well as a kitchen designated for special dinners for residents.

University Housing Spokesman Peter Logan said he thinks residents living in North Quad will have a different experience from those living in other dorms.

“Living in North Quad is going to be unique in that it will be a residential facility co-located with academic programs and offices with an overarching focus on an awareness of international issues and cultures in an effort to bring about stronger competency as global citizens,” Logan said.

The dormitory will house residents in the Global Scholars Program, a living-learning community formerly based in East Quadrangle, on the fourth floor and the Max Kade community — previously in the Vera Baits houses — on half of the fifth floor.

Logan added that the dormitory, as well as some of the collaborative spaces between the residence hall and the academic building, will host international programming, which could include community programs about a specific country, art exhibitions, opportunities to work with different academic units and video conferencing with other parts of the world.

Logan said he feels that this programming as well as the residents’ interactions with the academic units in the building will generate a vital educational experience.

“It’s going to be really exciting that this building, more than anywhere else, articulates (University President Mary Sue Coleman’s) vision that we need to strengthen that connection between living and learning,” he said.

North Quad will also hold a cafeteria, which Logan said will feature international cuisine, as well as traditional American food. Logan said he believes dorm residents, faculty and staff, will want to eat at the cafeteria as well as students from across campus.

In an e-mail to the Daily, Logan wrote that the dorm will also be energy efficient with occupancy sensor lights in the residential hallways, bathrooms and classrooms, water conservation methods in the plumbing and controls to turn-off air flow in unoccupied conference rooms.

Though some collaborative spaces between the academic and residential sides of the building and other areas of the academic building will still be under construction in the fall, Logan said the dormitory will be completed for student move-in.

“We’re confident that the resident hall is going to be set and ready to go when the students start moving in,” he said.