MSU Multicultural Center

As one of the largest, free-standing campus facilities of its kind in the nation, the MSU Multicultural Center aspires to both support and celebrate MSU's diverse community and, more intently, it's marginalized students while remaining an inclusive space for all. Purposefully, the 34,000-square-foot facility sits at the heart of campus on the corner of North Shaw and Farm lanes.

Intentionality is Key

After decades of advocacy, students continued to be engaged throughout the entire design process, resulting in a building that is “by the students-for the students."

Honoring history and the student experience, the building's features are representative of various cultures in a unified context. The MCC aims to educate all on the richness of multiculturalism, promoting education and engagement while celebrating collective histories. The MCC makes for a culturally rich and welcoming environment that promotes intellectual curiosity among students and their peers to learn and share experiences with one another.

Features

• Living Room

  At its heart of the building is the “living room,” providing a large communal gathering space that students had long sought, allowing them to host events and performances of cultural expression on site. The living room features a lightwell that brings natural light into the center of the building and doubles as a beacon to the surrounding campus. A collaboration stair doubles as event seating, adding to the ground floor’s adaptability.

  The entry corridor is clad in wood and provides gallery space to showcase the work of multicultural artists and artisans. The building’s overall interior palette is warm and neutral, creating a canvas for students that can reflect different cultural motifs over time. In the lofty living room, an inviting wooden step seating has also been made compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act by integrating retractable wheelchair-accessible seating. 

   

• Multipurpose Room

  The multifunctional space can fit hundreds and serves as a communal space for conferences, meetings and other small-large gatherings. In the state-of-the-art multipurpose room, a communication access service is available for those who are deaf or hard of hearing. There and in other meeting rooms, sound-absorbing ceiling panels help support students who are neurodiverse.

  

• Community Kitchen

  A community kitchen serves as the social hub of the second floor allowing for students to commune around foods that are representative of their diverse heritage and cultures. The center’s communal approach—with its massive island, round tables, a shared fridge and freezer, cupboards and microwaves—makes bringing lunch in and sitting down together all the more enjoyable. An impressive live edge table, made from a fallen sycamore tree on campus, brings a feeling of organic tactility.

  This communal area is flanked by meeting areas for student organizations and more private spaces for those seeking seclusion for respite.

  

• Personal Spaces

  It's not always easy to find a space that answers to an individual need, like nursing a baby, praying at a specific time, ritual washing or meditating while burning sage. At the centrally located MCC, there are dedicated spaces for that. The MCC is designed to serve all and includes reflection rooms for meditation or prayer, ablution stations, and toilet/lactation rooms that service both non-binary and binary students.

  

• Outdoor Amphitheater and Patio

  Those shared experiences will be further amplified through several unique features of the center and its property, including the outdoor amphitheater.