Student

Housing

Design

Contents

VMDO Architects – Student Housing Design 2

Fostering Vibrant Communities 5

Developing Community 7

A Place to Relax, a Place to Interact 8

A Place to Socialize 13

A Place to Study, Discuss + Learn 14

A Place to be Nourished 19

A Place to Pursue Interests 20

Designing for Student Life 23

Student Rooms 24

An Enduring Student Living Environment 27

Integrating + Revealing Sustainable Design Strategies 30

Supporting a Sense of Community 32

Fostering a Residential + Honors College Experience 35

Engaging the Campus 39

Planning for Student Housing 40

Siting with Sensitivity 43

Responding to an Established Architecture 44

Renovation 47

Breathing New Life into Existing Buildings 48

VMDO Architects Student Housing Design 54

Featured Projects + Collaboration 56

Contents

VMDO Architects – Student Housing Design 2

Fostering Vibrant Communities 5

Developing Community 7

A Place to Relax, a Place to Interact 8

A Place to Socialize 13

A Place to Study, Discuss + Learn 14

A Place to be Nourished 19

A Place to Pursue Interests 20

Designing for Student Life 23

Student Rooms 24

An Enduring Student Living Environment 27

Integrating + Revealing Sustainable Design Strategies 30

Supporting a Sense of Community 32

Fostering a Residential + Honors College Experience 35

Engaging the Campus 39

Planning for Student Housing 40

Siting with Sensitivity 43

Responding to an Established Architecture 44

Renovation 47

Breathing New Life into Existing Buildings 48

VMDO Architects Student Housing Design 54

Featured Projects + Collaboration 56

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5

Fostering

Vibrant Student

Communities

Student housing is an important determinant in recruiting and

retaining students. While potential college applicants will evaluate

an institution’s academic quality, location, and cost to determine

where they apply, their final selection is often made on the basis

of perceived quality of life. Residential life plays a large role in that

determination. A vibrant residence hall community can, literally,

bring home a culture of learning to the lives of its students. By

meeting student housing needs while supporting their social and

academic development, a thriving residential community helps its

students prepare for the complex world they will face beyond the

university experience.

Housing programs at colleges and universities across the country

are recognizing the potential for residence hall design to support

these critical goals. With student populations that are increasingly

diverse – creating student housing that encourages a sense of

community among a wide variety of backgrounds and experiences

is especially important. Meeting students at their current needs –

from a need to connect with a wide variety of new peers as a first-

year, to the need to find a comfortable, more independent living

environment as a non-traditional student – means that students

can find the support and sense of community they need to thrive.

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7

01

Developing

Community

A Place to Relax, a Place to Interact

A Place to Socialize

A Place to Study, Discuss + Learn

A Place to be Nourished

A Place to Pursue Interests

8 Developing Community

A Place to Relax,

a Place to Interact

An open, welcoming gathering space provides a place to make new friends, a place to

share experiences, a place to develop a sense of belonging. Well-designed common

spaces at each scale of the building – from the building’s main lounge to a suite’s intimate

living room – foster opportunities for students to relax and interact.

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Developing Community 13

A Place to Socialize

Partnered with the activities of a dynamic Residential Life program, the gathering spaces

of a residence hall can support students in their social development through their college

years by drawing students into common activities. Every space in a residence hall should

be considered in terms of its contribution to community development. Even service

spaces such as the laundry room and hall bathroom can be thoughtfully located near

gathering places in the building to encourage student interaction.

1 4 Developing Community

A Place to Study,

Discuss + Learn

Colleges and universities do their

best to prepare students for the

demands of the modern workplace,

where collaborative work, on-the-job

training, and experiential learning are

commonplace. Today’s college students

are frequently required to engage in

group projects and collaborative work

as part of their regular course of study.

However, many campuses suffer from

a lack of collaborative learning space to

support this group work. Spaces within

the residence hall can fill this need,

supporting the academic development

of its students and fostering a culture

of learning. This allows students to

experience learning as an on-going

engagement – a long-term conversation

– that extends beyond the walls of the

classroom and into their daily lives.

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“It’s a huge accomplishment [for Wayland Hall]

to be the first fully renovated residence hall in

the country to receive LEED Platinum status.

Already, it’s a popular facility with the students.

It’s very gratifying to see it finished successfully

from a design and construction standpoint and

to see it used so seamlessly by students.”

Winfield Hunt

Former Director of Facilities Planning + Construction

James Madison University

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Developing Community 19

A Place to be

Nourished

Sharing food is a nurturing experience. Whether it’s a bag of popcorn shared during a

late night of studying or a full Sunday brunch with a group of hall mates, sharing food

creates a special kind of bond that can cement the relationships begun in a residence hall.

Particular attention to the design of its dining spaces will locate and outfit these spaces to

feed a sense of community as well as student appetites.

2 0 Developing Community

A Place to

Pursue Interests

Activities in a residence hall can extend

far beyond socializing, studying,

and sleeping. With the right support

space, residence halls can encourage

students to pursue and develop

burgeoning interests. A music practice

room can become the place where

a young musician explores a new

passion by working out techniques and

compositions as inspiration strikes. A

maker space can allow a creative student

to explore ideas with tools on-hand,

quickly mocking up an idea and sharing

with friends for feedback and insight.

A fitness room can be the place where

a non-athlete finally finds inspiration

to develop a healthy exercise routine.

Selected for the culture and interests

of each student population, specially

programmed spaces can help students

pursue a rich array of interests right in

their own residence hall.

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02

Designing For

Student Life

Student Rooms

An Enduring Student Living Environment

Integrating + Revealing Sustainable Design Strategies

Supporting a Sense of Community

Fostering a Residential + Honors College Experience

2 4 Designing For Student Life

Student Rooms

The student unit has the largest influence on the size and associated cost of a building, so

its impact is felt on the budget sheet. The type and mix of student rooms also is critically

important to provide students with living arrangements attuned to their needs. When

organized around a diverse palette of student amenities, the right living unit can enrich the

residential experience.

The style of room and the quantity of student amenities are linked with the student’s class year

and unique needs. For example, first-year students are often housed in the smaller, traditional-

style rooms where they are nudged into generous public community spaces to meet and

connect with other students. Meanwhile, upper division and graduate students, who have

already established social networks on campus, often have larger individual living units and

thereby use these spaces – rather than common areas – for connections and socializing. The

right blend of public space and living units is fundamental to creating the community living

experience appropriate for an institution’s students, culture and housing goals.

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Designing For Student Life 27

An Enduring Student

Living Environment

Durability, thermal control, acoustic separation, and reliable security are key factors

in creating a comfortable and enduring living environment. Design features such as

waterproofing details in shower stalls, ventilation strategies of shared bathrooms,

and durable sound-proof wall assemblies contribute to the building’s function and

maintenance.

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3 2 Designing For Student Life

Supporting a Sense

of Community

Special places in a residence hall can

highlight a common identity among

residents. Environmental graphics can

powerfully articulate a common history,

celebrate a shared culture or tradition,

or identify unique ties among residents.

Equal parts art and education, well-

designed environmental graphics remind

students of their connections – among

one another and to the larger community

– while adding color and interest to a

residence hall environment.

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Designing For Student Life 35

Fostering a

Residential + Honors

College Experience

In recent years, colleges and universities have been creating intentional living-learning

communities. Housing students with a common academic interest or set of classes

together has encouraged students to blend their living and learning experiences. Taken to

the next level, a residential or honors college brings professors and staff into closer contact

with students, giving more ample opportunity to connect with and learn from one another

– in academic and social environments alike. The design of these environments is critical

to the success of these programs. Creating a memorable, powerful, and flexible gathering

space generates a sense of identity among community members while allowing the group

to gather in a variety of ways for a variety of activities. Developing an attractive faculty

apartment with ample social space, access to outdoor space, and a private entrance allows

faculty and their families to live with the right balance of contact with and privacy from the

larger student community. And creating a hub of classroom and office space can generate

opportunities for students to learn and connect with staff on-site, while giving them the

autonomy they need to develop their own community networks.

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Honoring the Importance

of Quiet Contemplation

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Honoring the Importance

of Quiet Contemplation

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Honoring the Importance

of Quiet Contemplation

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03

Engaging

the Campus

Planning for Student Housing

Siting with Sensitivity

Responding to an Established Architecture

4 0 Engaging The Campus

Planning for

Student Housing

Thoughtful planning develops a vision for how a portfolio of residence halls can serve

specific student populations across a campus. By articulating the bed count, unit type,

public spaces, capital improvements, and landscape connections needed for each

residence hall – both existing and new – a housing plan will anticipate the long-term

needs of a campus housing program while building on a vision for an institution’s housing

program as a whole. Grounded in sound financial planning and broad student and

administrative input, high-quality planning both creates a design vision and solves critical

problems so that it can be implemented with ease. A living document, a housing plan will

clarify what qualities and aspirations will be important to develop in each residence hall as

a campus continues to evolve.

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Designing For Student Life 43

Siting with Sensitivity

A new residence hall can make a palpable contribution to campus place-making. A

new residence hall sited with sensitivity engages the larger campus context while also

developing moments for more intimate residential-scale experiences. An attention to

landscape spaces, to connections to adjacent campus ways, and to the intersection of

the built and landscape form ensures that a residence hall forms a seamless connection

with its surroundings. In the planning stages, this means attending to the realities of

landscape, creating memorable outdoor environments while artfully resolving issues like

topography, circulation, vehicular access, and utility connection. Deeper into design, this

means refining memorable outdoor spaces.

Designing For Student Life 43

Siting with Sensitivity

A new residence hall can make a palpable contribution to campus place-making. A

new residence hall sited with sensitivity engages the larger campus context while also

developing moments for more intimate residential-scale experiences. An attention to

landscape spaces, to connections to adjacent campus ways, and to the intersection of

the built and landscape form ensures that a residence hall forms a seamless connection

with its surroundings. In the planning stages, this means attending to the realities of

landscape, creating memorable outdoor environments while artfully resolving issues like

topography, circulation, vehicular access, and utility connection. Deeper into design, this

means refining memorable outdoor spaces.

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04

Renovation

Breathing New Life into Existing Buildings

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04

Renovation

Breathing New Life into Existing Buildings