Rethinking Residence Halls
Technology and the Internet have expanded access to information and altered social interaction. These revolutionary socialization changes are most apparent on college campuses.
Given the breathtaking pace of change, higher education institutes need to do everything they can to provide the crucial social skills students need for success in an increasingly interconnected world. Residence halls are uniquely positioned to play a central role in cultivating such skills.
The Residential Concept
In the 19th century, campus development in Europe and the United States closely paralleled an intense debate about the nature of learning. Oxford and Cambridge universities pursued a model where the university was a residential environment as opposed to a purely academic and research-oriented enclave.
While some American educators viewed the residential models as a way to correct perceived shortcomings in domestic campuses, other universities adopted a different approach.
The University of Michigan abolished student dormitories in order to emphasize the institution’s professional, career-based nature. By the post-WWII in the United States, the prevalent living-and-learning model was reduced on most campuses to plain dormitories. Eating, socializing and contact with instructors occurred elsewhere on campus, never in a residential setting.
Arguably, however, the spirit of the original college residential model is returning. While integral dining facilities and ongoing contact with educators and professors may not be appropriate for every campus, the need for a stimulating social environment has become more relevant in today’s world.
As population projections for U.S. higher education students shows a decline in future decades, competition for student applications and retention will intensify, necessitating the growth of compelling, attractive facilities.
Defining the Residence Hall
Defining good residence hall characteristics is like trying to define humor — it depends on whom you ask.
Many aspects of successful residence halls are incontrovertible: solid construction, flexible and welcoming social spaces, easy-to-maintain finishes and fixtures, ample daylighting, well-configured bathrooms and good security. But is a positive residential experience only the sum of these parts, or is there a bigger picture that should guide residence hall planning and design?
Instead of regarding residence halls as a simply a bare-bones hotel with lounge space, architects, designers and campus decision-makers should consider it an instructional facility on a par with traditional academic buildings. Residence hall design should reflect the structure of today’s society, in particular four fundamental scales of interaction:
• Personal spaces for one person should provide the opportunity for quiet thought and reflection. In a typical home, this might be a bedroom or small study. In the residence hall, this is the student’s bedroom.
• Private spaces in the residence hall should be provided in a suite or immediate hallway, where interaction with six to eight peers is possible.
• Communal spaces in a corridor or lounge allow for interactions with several dozen immediate neighbors.
• Civic spaces, such as the literal and figurative town square, provide interaction in the most public context with other members of the broader society. The entire residence hall, with perhaps 150 to 200 student residents, serves as the counterpart to public civic places in the community.
Cannon Design recently applied these concepts to the renovation of a residence hall at University of Illinois at Chicago. As an urban university, UIC had traditionally been a commuter campus, but has increasingly emphasized on-campus living.
UIC had its own collection of residential facilities dating to the 1950s and 1960s, when student preferences and amenities were overshadowed by economic considerations.
One of UIC’s oldest facilities was built in the 1950s with traditional double-loaded corridors and common bathroom facilities. Although the initial renovation concept was to eliminate common bathrooms and create small clusters of rooms with private bathrooms, space limitations and budget considerations required a different approach.
The design team also found that the private bathroom planning model would create an environment in which the students only left their rooms for meals and classes. Students were equally concerned with facilitating increased interaction and building strong communities.
The proposal sought replacement of the large central bathroom with smaller, neighborhood bathrooms serving each of three wings on a typical floor. Areas previously dedicated to the central bathrooms became central lounges, a feature ignored by planners in the 1950s. To address student concerns about privacy and convenience, the neighborhood bathrooms replaced the conventional stalls arrangement with a series of individual toilet rooms and private shower/dressing areas.
A residence hall thoughtfully based on a societal model can be an environment that supports an institution’s goal to provide a clear social structure — along with supporting activities and guidance — that allows students to practice, fail and succeed in developing the executive and interactive skills they need in the outside world. It says to students, “Welcome to the neighborhood.”
Patrick Curley, AIA, is an associate principal with Cannon Design. He has more than 25 years of professional architectural experience, and has spent the past 15 years focusing heavily on higher education projects.