When the 2022 winter semester began, University of Michigan students enrolled in about 90 undergraduate and graduate classes and experienced the term in a new facility: the 105,000-square-foot Central Campus Classroom Building (CCCB). The CCCB opened its doors to more than 10,000 students per day and invigorated Central Campus’ east gateway entrance at its location at Geddes and Washtenaw avenues.

Approved by the Board of Regents in December 2018, together with the Alexander G. Ruthven Building renovation project, the CCCB was built to support the growing campus need for active and team-based learning classrooms, particularly for larger classes. It features 1,400 classroom seats in various room configurations ranging from 100 to 572 seats.

The CCCB’s signature 360-degree feature is the 190-seat state-of-the-art classroom based on the theater-in-the-round concept, where the instructor is in the center of the room surrounded by students sitting in rows that form a circle. Despite its size, the greatest distance between the instructor and students is only five rows, creating a unique and intimate learning environment.

U-M is one of only a few institutions in the country that currently have this unique type of classroom. Others include Oregon State, Washington State and Texas A&M.