No matter where students are in life, learning never stops. The influence housing has on our educational and social development continues. Whether it is the monumental first-year experience, the traditional undergraduate years, the self-directed graduate and professional pathways, or a return to educational opportunities at an anchor institution, student life continues to support personal discovery.
First-Year
First-year students typically enter colleges and universities with limited social networks and a new level of freedom.
Central to the enhancement of a first-year experience is creating spaces that provide social comfort and encourage interaction. Double occupancy rooms in traditional or semi-suite formats, a roommate, and limited privacy gives students an opportunity to make friends and the encouragement to leave the unit and seek out common space.
University of North Carolina School of the Arts - Artist Village
With LS3P
Active common spaces on the ground floor give first-year students spaces outside of their units to engage and grow their social circle.
University of Maryland, College Park - Heritage Community
With Holder Construction Company
Floor lounges are best located near vertical circulation such as stairways and elevators. This keeps study and social spaces visible and well used.
University of North Carolina School of the Arts - Artist Village
With LS3P
Common spaces in floor lounges build community at different and expanding scales.
University of Maryland, College Park - Yahentamitsi Dining Hall
With Holder Construction Company
Student life buildings are highly visible and highly utilized. Environmental graphic design allows for a dining hall to effectively invite the students to learn the history of the campus and the land on which it sits.
University of Maryland, College Park - Yahentamitsi Dining Hall
With Holder Construction Company
In reflection of the dining hall’s name, custom environmental graphic design elements weave through the entire facility, offering historical facts and authentic perspectives and artwork representing the Piscataway Tribe.
The entrance of the dining hall displays a large map of the trade routes that served the Piscataway people for more than 13,000 years, as well as original artwork by a Piscataway artist representing the legend of the shad fish.
Ringling College of Art and Design - Greensboro Hall
Living-learning communities are tailored to the specific needs of the residents. A project room at Ringling College of Art and Design allows students to work on their artistic endeavors where they live.
Ringling College of Art and Design - Greensboro Hall
Different options and scales of space give students the ability to have personal space while still being engaged with the broader community.
Undergrad
After the first year, students have developed social networks and are more at home on campus. Move-up options and a wider variety of unit types help to support their growing independence. Communal spaces are still important, but their placement and distribution changes, and more gathering space is provided within the unit.
Ringling College of Art and Design - Cunniffe Commons
Dining Facility
Dining options support the overall health and wellness of the student population throughout their time living on-campus. The variety and sophistication of each dining platform allows students to engage more directly with the staff preparing their food.
Colby College - Alfond Commons Student Housing
With Landry/French Construction
Apartment units are more appropriate for upper-division students, as they provide more independence and space for social interaction inside the unit.
Colby College - Alfond Commons Student Housing
With Landry/French Construction
Upper-division students are more civically engaged. Student housing further from the core of campus can offer the opportunity to bridge the gap between town and gown.
Colby College - Alfond Commons Student Housing
With Landry/French Construction
Apartment units at Colby College maximize bed counts with an efficient grouping and layout of private bedrooms, kitchens, in-unit bathrooms, and lounge space.
Graduate
Some students go directly from undergrad, some take years to return, some may be changing their careers, others may have families, and still others may be coming internationally. Many institutions are seeing graduate student housing as a competitive advantage for recruiting the best students to their programs. Priorities for graduate housing include: proximity to relevant academic buildings and public transit, rental rates competitive with the off-campus market, smaller apartmentstyle units with fewer or no roommates, and community-building spaces that balance privacy with a desire to engage the campus community.
University of California Berkeley - Albany Village Graduate Student Housing
With American Campus Communities
Balancing density, affordability, and the requirements of the University’s Design Review Committee, the Albany Village Graduate Student Housing project provides a convenient and affordable community for UC Berkeley students.
Rice University - Ion District Housing
With Michaels Student Living
This graduate student community at Rice University includes an enclosed courtyard with a pool adjacent to ground floor amenity spaces focused on collaboration and social engagement.
Emory University - The Ridge
The Ridge at Emory University is a graduate and professional student housing community. The first phase, opening in 2024, comprises two buildings totaling 535 beds in a mix of studio, one-and twobedroom apartments, as well as an 8,000 square foot community center.
With American Campus Communities and Moody Nolan
Renewable electricity
Geothermal wells
High-performance glass
Low-carbon structure
Designed to Passive House standards, Dartmouth College North End Student Housing features a high-performance envelope, low-carbon stone cladding and mineral wool insulation, and a mass timber structural frame.
The graduate student community at Rice University is a key activator for the Ion District located a short distance from campus. With 691 beds for graduate students, the project also includes ground floor retail to activate the adjacent street as well as an interior courtyard and ground floor amenity spaces for the residents.
Rice University - Ion District Housing
With Michaels Student Living
Colby College - Alfond Commons Student Housing
Providing fully furnished apartment units facilitates the mobility of graduate students, particularly first-year graduate students looking for a safe place to land as they acclimate to a new campus and academic program, a new city, and often times even a new country for students coming from abroad.
With Landry/French Construction
University of California Berkeley - Albany Village Graduate Student Housing
With American Campus Communities
The graduate housing project at Berkeley includes a campus shuttle bus stop immediately adjacent to the front door. This provides convenient access for residents to and from their academic facilities throughout campus.
University of California Berkeley - Albany Village Graduate Student Housing
With American Campus Communities
Even in dense graduate housing developments that are sensitive to affordability, planning for usable open space within the project is a major priority to support residents’ health and wellbeing.
Young Professionals
Higher education has a long history of providing anchor institutions to cities and communities throughout the United States and across the globe. In recent years, university-affiliated research parks have been reimagined as mixed-use innovation districts where higher education, research, and entrepreneurship mingle with housing, dining, entertainment, and open space to inject new vitality into the community. These innovation districts are highly attractive to young professionals who wish to continue their relationship with higher education into their careers.
uCity Square - Master Plan
With Wexford Science & Technology, Drexel University, and University of Pennsylvania
uCity creates a dynamic, mixed-use innovation district in Philadelphia with opportunities to improve broader civic, economic, educational, and social connections.
uCity Square - Master Plan
With Wexford Science & Technology, Drexel University, and University of Pennsylvania
Ayers Saint Gross created a master plan for the development of a mixed-use, vibrant, and active community center with retail, research, and housing to connect the district. Inviting public spaces encourage students, faculty, researchers, visitors, and the local community to interact.
Point225 Providence Innovation Center
With Wexford Science & Technology
Ayers Saint Gross developed a master plan envisioning a million-square-foot mixed-use community containing tech start-up spaces, labs, research space, housing, a new hotel, and retail.
Point 225 is an anchor for this new district and provides a catalyst for private companies, public universities, and makers to conduct research, exchange knowledge, build relationships, and make ideas happen.
Point225 Providence Innovation Center
With Wexford Science & Technology
District Hall, a vibrant meeting space on the ground floor of the Point 225 building, fosters collaboration. The building also houses Brown University’s School of Professional Studies and Cambridge Innovation Center—a company that provides incubator space for start-ups, entrepreneurs, and innovators—among others. Together, these anchor tenants foster innovation, research, and development.
Forever Learners
As the demographics of higher education continue to evolve, institutions have an opportunity to think about the needs of non-traditionally aged students. Furthermore, most institutions serve as significant cultural resources for their communities which include residents at all stages of life looking for ways to engage with the campus community.
Ringling College of Art and Design - Cunniffe Commons
Dining Facility
Student life facilities play a role for life-long learners by providing multi-functional spaces that can host a range of events that deepen the relationship between the institution and neighboring communities.
Point225 Providence Innovation Center
With Wexford Science & Technology
Innovation districts demonstrate the engagement of higher education with the surrounding city fabric by providing engaging open spaces that strengthen community connections.
Colby College - Alfond Commons Student Housing
With Landry/French Construction
Civic engagement is a central mission of Colby College’s Alfond Commons. A ground floor community forum space is used by students, local residents, and the city council.
Ringling College of Art and Design - Cunniffe Commons
Dining Facility
Outdoor environments provide unique opportunities to engage students with their surrounding communities. This outdoor dining venue at Ringling College of Art and Design is located adjacent to the Arts Walk, a pathway around the campus linking various galleries that are open to the broader community.
Data
The Ridge
Emory University
Apartments
535 Beds
282,730 gsf
528 gsf per bed
Albany Village Graduate Student Housing
University of California, Berkeley
Apartments
761 Beds
324,000 gsf
426 gsf per bed
Artist Village
University of North Carolina School of the Arts
Semi-Suites
456 Beds
114,687 gsf
252 gsf per bed With American Campus Communities and Moody Nolan With American Campus Communities With LS3P
Student Housing Services
Planning • Programming • Renovation • Design of new halls and villages • Public–private partnerships • Landscape architecture • Graphic design • Furniture fixtures & equipment (FF&E)
Ayers Saint Gross is an interdisciplinary design firm of architects, planners, landscape architects, interior designers, graphic designers, and space analysts.
Over the past 25 years, we have collaborated with our clients to program, plan, and design more than 185,000 beds around the world. Our innovative designs balance the demands of function, budget, construction, and maintenance.
Ion District Graduate Student Housing
Rice University Apartments
739 Beds
390,000 gsf
518 gsf per bed
With Michaels Student Living
North End Student Housing
Dartmouth College Apartments
397 Beds
195,000 gsf
478 gsf per bed
Johnson-Whittle and Pyon-Chen Halls
University of Maryland, College Park
Traditional
903 Beds
269,432 gsf
298 gsf per bed
With Holder Construction Company
Student Housing Clients
American Campus Communities • American University • Arizona State University • Boise
State University • Bowling Green State University • Bryant University • Carnegie Mellon
University • California State University, Los Angeles • Case Western Reserve University •
Catholic University • Clemson University • Colby College • Concord Eastridge • Dartmouth
College • Delaware State University • Denison University • Eckerd College • Elon
University • Greystar • Emory University • Gallaudet University • Georgetown University
• The George Washington University • Georgia Institute of Technology • Gettysburg
College • Goucher College • Hamilton College • Holder Properties • Hood College • James Madison University • Johns Hopkins University • Kansas City Art Institute • Kansas
State University • Kent State University • Lynn University • Maryland Institute College of Art • Michaels Student Living • Minnesota State University, Mankato • Mount St. Mary’s
University • NC State • Northwest Missouri State University • The Ohio State University •
Ohio University • Peak Campus Development • Penn State Behrend • Purdue University
• Quinnipiac University • Ringling College of Art + Design • Salisbury University • Swarthmore College • Towson University • University of Arizona • University of California, Berkeley • University of Delaware • University of Kentucky • University of Maryland
• University of Miami • University of North Carolina at Charlotte • University of North Carolina at Greensboro • University of Oklahoma • University of the Pacific • University of Pittsburgh • University of Rochester • University of South Carolina • University of Southern California • University of Tennessee, Knoxville • University of Utah • University of Virginia • Virginia Commonwealth University • Wake Forest University • Washington
College • Washington and Lee University • Wesleyan University • West Texas A&M
University • West Virginia University • Western Washington University • Westminster
Theological Seminary • University of Colorado Boulder • UNC School of the Arts
