These days there isn't much reading going on in the Reading Room of the University of Michigan's Law Quad. At least, not while work crews renovate and upgrade the church-like space in one of the university's most recognizable buildings.

The crews are restoring the room as part of the Law Quad's $102-million renovation project. For the Reading Room this means restoration of its interior and upgraded lighting. The $1.2 million project also includes cleaning the ceiling, refinishing the tables and replacing the current flooring with cork floors that are similar to those that originally graced the room.

"That's also part of a project to upgrade Hutchins Hall (another section of the Law Quad)," says John Masson, spokesman for the University of Michigan's Law School.

The Law School project goes beyond simple restoration, however, as it adds a new 100,000-square-foot building at the corner of Monroe and State streets where a surface parking lot once stood.

Renovations are also being done to Hutchins Hall in the Cook Legal Research Building, creating a new 16,000-square-foot student commons.

Since the Law Quad was originally built, the Law School's student body has more than doubled and its faculty has quadrupled.

Source: John Masson, spokesman for the University of Michigan Law School and Lois Harden, facilities manager for the Law School
Writer: Jon Zemke