The formerly nondescript business school has been reconceived to be a draw for busy professionals. To appeal to business students, most of whom are working full time and attending school at night, Walsh College needed to adopt a presence akin to a sophisticated workplace. Located in Troy, Michigan, a sprawling suburb 17 miles northwest of downtown Detroit, Walsh College is a 3,700-student school that offers undergraduate and graduate business programs. Since 1969, the school’s facilities had expanded with a series of pedestrian single-story structures. Walsh College retained Chicago-based Valerio Dewalt Train Associates (VDTA) in 2006 to prepare a master plan and initiate a series of cohesive additions and renovations that have since transformed the facility. VDTA completed the project with nearly 30,000 square feet of new construction on two floors and an additional 30,000 square feet of renovations in the final phase.
