Campus Housing: Evolving into Lifestyle Microcosms
By Pete Rasmussen, AIA, and Andrea Rose, AIA, NCARB
As most post-secondary students round out their semester next month and head home for the summer, many student housing projects across the country are nearing construction completion and will be opening their doors to new students in the fall.
Having just wrapped up new housing developments at Florida State University, Wabash College, and one adjacent to Penn State University, and with one currently under construction for Arizona State University, some timely insights come into sharp relief.
While many modern student housing complexes have become self-contained mini–worlds that reflect broader societal trends, many clients and universities are finding the value in fostering strong connections to the larger campus and communities where students live.
Wellness-Oriented Design
Colleges and universities are prioritizing mental and physical health by optimizing several design tools:
- Biophilia – the integration of natural elements into space helps fulfill people’s innate tendency to seek connections with nature and other living things.
- Comfort – considering physical, emotional, psychological and even technological comfort, a thoughtful mix of spaces with the right adjacencies can help a broad student body feel at home.
- Acoustics – research shows that students need a balance of quiet and active spaces for success. Strategic placement of mechanical systems, use of sound-absorbing materials, and programming activity areas adjacent to but acoustically separated from resident rooms supports both academic achievement and social development.
- Physical wellness – Gen Z and Gen Alpha are cued into the importance of movement and general wellness, so including cutting edge fitness centers with saunas, cold plunges, red light therapy and spaces that promote a spa-like atmosphere appeal to these residents.
Natural light-filled common areas in Wabash College’s Martindale Hall line high-traffic zones to provide spaces that encourage serendipitous encounters while connecting students to the adjacent campus arboretum.
At Arizona State University, the design of Lantana Hall incorporates spaces to encourage collaboration or support individual study opportunities within the residence hall.
Living and Learning Environments
The blending of residential and academic spaces that include classroom, group work, innovation hubs and maker spaces is becoming seamless. Similar to living and working environments, technology and societal norms support the blurring of live/learn boundaries.
Technology-Integrated Living
As digital natives, today’s incoming students expect their living and learning environments to offer app-based control systems, seamless high-speed connectivity, and digital solutions that support both their social interactions and academic requirements.
Resilience
Resilience means balancing long-term operational efficiency with initial costs while utilizing healthy materials and promoting disaster readiness, creating safe and durable spaces for students. These different priorities are not mutually exclusive.
Outdoor Connection
As demonstrated in all types of settings – healthcare, office, higher education – visual and physical connections to the outdoors greatly impact the appeal of spaces, whether in student bedrooms or community areas.
Creating Community
Speaking of community, fostering a sense of community away from home by including areas open to the public, like coffee shops and coworking spaces, are increasingly more common. A variety of services in proximity promote a neighborhood feel and foster community.
Uncommon Flagstaff incorporates sustainable design strategies that take into account its unique location—a city with the highest temperature differential and the most temperature changes in a day anywhere in the US.
Funding Pathways
With existing 50-80 year-old student housing stock continuing to age, staying relevant often means replacing these buildings. Student housing requires significant capital outlays and is a long-term commitment, often taking years to recoup due to universities’ commitments to affordable housing for their students. P3 projects (Public Private Partnerships) have become popular for universities to offset upfront development costs while addressing housing pressures on campus. However, some universities are wary of losing operational and asset control over residential buildings, resulting in many new solicitations for university-funded housing projects coming across our desks. Even still, many universities are pursuing something in the middle. According to Jamie Wilhelm, chief development officer at American Campus Communities by way of Brailsford & Dunlavey’s 2024 Report, “We’re seeing several examples where the private sector is helping with speed-to-market, and the university is complementing that with a lower cost of capital.”
Looking ahead, successful campus housing will balance technological innovation with human connection, creating spaces that not only meet students’ practical needs but also nurture their holistic development while embracing diverse funding models—from traditional university investments to public-private partnerships—that provide the flexibility needed to respond to evolving institutional priorities and economic landscapes.
Pete Rasmussen, AIA
Principal
Pete is a leader in our higher education, housing, and community development work. He leads our Sustainable Design Group and serves on the AIA Large Firm Roundtable Sustainability Committee.
Andrea Rose, AIA, NCARB
Architect, Associate
Andrea’s professional experience on multi-family and mixed-use projects ranges from program development and crafting architectural concepts to overseeing the delivery and execution of high-end construction.