Ferris State University
FSU Library for Information, Technology and Education (FLITE) Big Rapids, MI FLITE is a 175,000-square-foot, high-tech facility that combines a print library and digital information library with a technological learning center. As the central focus of the campus, it acts as a social and intellectual commons, a cultural space for Ferris State University and the larger community. The building provides an architectural and symbolic presence to a campus of undistinguished post war buildings. Continue BackThe programmed 440,000-volume print collection of monographs, periodicals and documents are housed in standard open shelving and compact shelving. This area are interspersed with computer facilities and electronically equipped study, teaching and meeting rooms, allowing electronic access from homes, laboratories, residence halls and offices. Electronic flexibility is a major design requirement.
FLITE’s function extends beyond its services. The siting of the new facility became the impetus for a complete reconsideration of campus circulation systems, the organization of public arrival and the spatial relationships among the University’s component parts. Also part of this rethinking was the conversion of the centrally located parking lot to a campus green as part of the new “heart” of the university.
Associate Architect: Neumann Smith & Associates
Dr. Richard Cochran, Dean of the Library