Munger Graduate Residences is the first University of Michigan residential facility designed with a primary focus on actively encouraging interdisciplinary academic and social interaction among students and researchers. Beckett & Raeder, Inc. created ground-level exterior spaces that provide for informal gathering plazas, lawn activities, and extensive gardens. To maximize live/work/play opportunities, the project took full advantage of available space through a green roof that provides spectacular skyline views and integrates gathering spaces, outdoor cooking areas, intensive gardens, and a running track.

A stormwater management approach was developed to greatly reduce the volume and rate of release into the system, far beyond regulatory or LEED requirements. This was accomplished through innovative best management practices such as use of an intensive green roof system; porous materials for 94% of site pavements (including a heavy duty fire access lane); infiltration pipes and storage chambers beneath lawns and pavements; and bioswales in recessed urban planter boxes. Additionally, landscape plantings throughout the project are native or adapted species, minimizing the need for supplemental maintenance and irrigation.