In the 21st century, residence halls will be even more important to a college or university’s identity and competitive position in the academic community. Residence halls are key second-tier amenities, ranked just behind academics. They must respond to future needs, the evolving trends of campus and social life, as well as the mounting expectations of students and parents—all while keeping costs in check. Most institutions navigate a delicate balance between these qualitative demands and quantitative limitations on housing.

However, forward-thinking design can offer practical solutions. Students, parents, and administrators expect their residential buildings to create community, allow privacy without isolation, provide maximum flexibility, and accommodate the personalization of space. New ideas about room configuration, treatment of public space, modular furniture, integration of technology, and lighting suggest innovative ways to realize these goals.

Rooms and public space
Once considered non-traditional, the suites found in today’s undergraduate residence halls can be a point of departure for a new idea—open suite residential “neighborhoods.” Instead of arranging rooms along double-loaded corridors with common spaces grouped at the ends of hallways, the neighborhood approach could place 20 to 21 students, housed in doubles and singles, in pods within the larger residence hall. Each neighborhood would cluster around common areas, including lounge space, study rooms, laundry facilities, and kitchenettes to create a place for student interaction and socialization.

Private and public spaces are integrated throughout the building, making it comfortable to socialize in the course of everyday activity. Public corridors and staircases throughout the building can also be animated with ample window seating to offer additional venues for reading or mingling.

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Shared spaces throughout East Hall at Olin College in Needham, Mass., feature open and flexible designs that create comfortable environments for studying and socializing.

Flexible, modular furniture
A residential environment in which each student can customize the level of personal and shared space, both at the micro (within a unit) and macro (within the neighborhood) scale, is increasingly critical to a diverse student population. Flexibility in furniture design can help create both privacy and a personal signature.

Storage modules comprising a wardrobe, shelving system, and swinging screens, as well as loft bed and desk systems, could be configured to define a diversity of live/work/sleep areas. The goal is comfort without an overabundance of amenities that can isolate students in their own cocoon. Without closets, wall space would be free to hang anything from posters to televisions.

Technology integration
Personal technology and electronic devices continue to play an ever-increasing role in daily life. Such items are now considered work, entertainment, and communication essentials and are elements that help establish unique, personalized spaces. Residence hall design should incorporate a full range of power ports along with surfaces, spaces, and furniture to use and store this equipment.

In student rooms, the bedside of a wardrobe unit might serve as an information panel, incorporating space for a student’s flat screen television monitor and other controls and as a tack board to hang pictures, calendars, and posters. Workstations with retractable panels could be configured to support a personal computer or to store a laptop, along with papers and books when not in use.

Lighting
Lighting could play a major role in the customization of space, allowing each student the flexibility to control task and indirect fixtures. Lighting atop the main storage modules might be fully adjustable to cast indirect light, or vary intensity and color to create a personalized ambiance.

The incorporation of task lighting on both sides of each wardrobe unit could create separate adjustable lighting zones so that one roommate can be working at his or her desk at night while the other roommate sleeps with virtually no light disturbance. These separate and adjustable lighting zones, coupled with the flexibility to rearrange furniture, could allow the student to create a truly tailored living environment. n

Christopher Hill is a principal at CBT Architects based in Boston, Mass. Reach him at hill@cbtarchitects.com.