You Belong Here.
Diverse, Equitable, and Inclusive
Campus Environments
Student Life 2023
Introduction
Living in on-campus housing contributes to better student academic performance, higher retention, and higher graduation rates. Residential life programs positively impact belonging and success by building community and fellowship among students.
Our colleague, Shannon Dowling, as part of a fellowship with the Society for College and University Planning, conducted a research project titled “The Planning and Design of Diverse, Equitable, and Inclusive Campus Environments.”
As part of that research, Shannon developed a playbook that shares design strategies to bolster inclusion and belonging in campus environments. Using this playbook, we’ve applied a lens to our work, considering the themes developed from the research at different scales of community. The scales of community provide a qualitative framework to assess the cascading range of space types— campus, neighborhood, hall, floor, and unit—that impact student success.
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Mapping Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
5 Scales of Community Themes Unit Signage + Direction Floor Security + Well-Being Hall Comfort Neighborhood Connection Campus Choice + Voice
1 Table of Contents CAMPUS 02 16 36 52 66 78 NEIGHBORHOOD HALL FLOOR UNIT DATA
CAMPUS
• Choice + Voice: Building siting can create more intimate outdoor spaces that supplement formal campus greens and provide options for students.
• Connection: Visual connections between residence life buildings and key features of the campus core establish identity and cohesion and connect students to the campus.
• Comfort: Inviting landscapes and environments encourage relaxation and recreation.
• Security + Well-Being: Thoughtfully sited, well-lit campuses with varying levels of transparency and activity, promote a sense of safety and connection with peers.
• Signage + Direction: Clear, consistent campus branding and legible signage on buildings, walkways, and streets creates a sense of belonging and comfort.
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3 Choice + Voice Connection Comfort Security + Well-Being Signage + Direction
Denison University - Silverstein Hall
Bowie State University - Signage and Wayfinding
Ringling College of Art and Design - Bridge Hall Apartments
Clemson University - Douthit Hills Housing Development
With The Boudreaux Group and Clark Nexsen
To be nurtured and comfortable, food access is vital. Dining halls that are located to be easily accessed, address the campus, and are available for use outside of traditional Western dining hours create campus hubs and centers of belonging.
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Case Western Reserve University - Fribley Commons Dining Facility
Creating equitable experiences begins at the planning level with a holistic view into the campus and student experience. Planning helps to define drivers and ensure new and renovated facilities embody the student life mission.
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Western Washington University - Campus Master Plan
HOUSING KEY
Existing
To Be Demolished
Renovation
Future Construction
NEIGHBORHOOD
• Choice + Voice: Outdoor spaces are among the most comfortable for students. Residential life spaces can bolster this experience with a variety of accommodating furniture and clear sightlines to campus activities.
• Connection: Community is important for all students. Traditional, non-traditional, and graduate students alike need to feel at home in common spaces.
• Comfort: With a broadening knowledge and sensitivity to the needs of a diverse student population, existing halls can be renovated to provide more accessible and equitable experiences.
• Security + Well-Being: Clustered residence halls define neighborhoods that help an unfamiliar campus feel more manageable. Interstitial outdoor spaces enable spontaneous in-person interactions and physical activity essential to building connections and promoting mind and body health.
• Signage + Direction: As many institutions reevaluate their histories, environmental graphic design in student life buildings can be a powerful method for authentic representation and storytelling.
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17 Choice + Voice Connection Comfort Security + Well-Being Signage + Direction
Georgia Institute of Technology - East Halls Renovation Plan
University of Maryland College Park - Yahentamitsi Dining Hall
With Holder Construction
Large stand-alone gym facilities can be intimidating. Including various scales of fitness and wellness opportunities that accommodate different activities and group sizes can offer different options for interaction and invite a more diverse population of students to participate.
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Vertex Apartments - Arizona State University With Peak Campus
Different dining platforms and retail operations provide students with options to support dietary needs, cultural preferences, and food access outside of traditional Western mealtimes.
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Goucher College - Mary Fisher Hall
Goucher College - Mary Fisher Hall
Ringling College of Art and Design - Greensboro Hall
Grinnell College - Kington Plaza and Christiansen Outdoor Learning Spaces
For residence halls outside of the campus core, designs that incorporate integrated bike racks and storage and bus pull-ins and shelters help to keep students connected.
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University of California, Berkeley - Albany Village Graduate Housing With American Campus Communities
With American Campus Communities and Moody Nolan
Emory University - Professional and Graduate Housing
HALL
• Choice + Voice: Purposeful design and distribution of vibrant community spaces encourages activities that draw students out of their units to commingle in the ways they choose.
• Connection: An active and inviting building lounge creates a sense of arrival that turns a hall into a community of peers and belonging.
• Comfort: Natural daylight and views to the outdoors reinforce a sense of place, and vertical circulation is an opportunity to create visual connections between floors that spark chance interactions.
• Security + Well-Being: Thoughtful, inclusive design and biophilic elements can seamlessly integrate necessary security features and make a hall feel residential instead of institutional, supporting a sense of comfort and belonging.
• Signage + Direction: Environmental graphic design in highly visible areas creates a visual identity for a shared spaces and tells important and diverse stories.
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37 Choice + Voice Connection Comfort Security + Well-Being Signage + Direction
Interiors and furnishings can give students agency and support different scales of interaction and tasks—whether that’s group work outside of classrooms, focused study, or impromptu socializing.
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State University -
American
Communities
Delaware
Tubman-Laws Hall With
Campus
Ringling College of Art and Design - Greensboro Hall
Ringling College of Art and Design - Greensboro Hall
University of South Carolina - 650 Lincoln With Holder Properties
For urban residence halls in particular, the relationship between the students and the host community is vital to connection. Spaces intentionally made for interaction on the ground floor engage students in civic life, with visual connections through the building, breaking down barriers.
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Colby College - Alfond Commons With Landry/French Construction
Our research shows that students want to meet new people and are comfortable doing so. Access to visible, bright, and wellused spaces creates opportunities to connect.
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LS3P
University of North Carolina School of the Arts - Artist Village With
Hall lounges that feature easy access and views to the outdoors create literal connections to campus and improve student wellness.
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Denison University - Silverstein Hall
FLOOR
• Choice + Voice: Floor spaces like community kitchens give students agency and allow students to connect over a meal and to learn about each other’s cultures through food and cooking traditions.
• Connection: Lounges, stairways, and corridors work together to create porous spaces that encourage students to study, socialize, and forge new connections.
• Comfort: Bathrooms that offer safety and privacy are a fundamental dignity owed to all. Accessible and gender-inclusive restrooms are foundational in generating a sense of belonging and community and promoting acceptance within a student body.
• Security + Well-Being: On-floor community amenities such as kitchen, bathroom, and laundry facilities, place everyday activities near the unit, keeping them visible and accessible to help provide a sense of home.
• Signage + Direction: Giving floors distinct color palettes and design identities generates a sense of creativity, excitement, and belonging to a unique community.
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53 Choice + Voice Connection Comfort Security + Well-Being Signage + Direction
Penn State Behrend - Trippe Hall
With Noelker and Hull Associates
Design choices like doubleheight floor lounges and open and visible laundry areas create broader opportunities for student interaction.
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Virginia Commonwealth University - Gladding Residence Center With American Campus Communities and Clark Nexsen
Ringling College of Art and Design - Greensboro Hall
Private communal bathrooms allow for an efficient implementation of gender-inclusive bathrooms by placing shower and toilet facilities behind full length locking doors, while keeping sinks open and shared.
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Virginia Commonwealth University - Gladding Residence Center With American Campus Communities and Clark Nexsen
Renovations address the unique challenges of bringing best practices around transparency, variety, and accessibility to existing residence halls.
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Before After
Denison University - Housing Renovations
University of North Carolina School of the
- Artist Village With LS3P
Arts
UNIT
• Choice + Voice: Flexible room and furnishing layouts allow agency and self-expression through unit customization.
• Connection: Units provide an environment to forge connections with a roommate on a one-to-one level and can lead to lifelong friendships.
• Comfort: In double occupancy units, privacy walls reinforce the unit as a retreat where students can recharge.
• Security + Well-Being: Healthy materials, access to daylight, and adequate ventilation contribute to mental health and overall wellness.
• Signage + Direction: Clear views from within the unit orient new students to their location within the campus.
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67 Choice + Voice Connection Comfort Security + Well-Being Signage + Direction
Georgetown University - Ida Ryan and Isaac Hawkins Hall
Virginia Commonwealth University - Gladding Residence Center
With American Campus Communities and Clark Nexsen
In-unit kitchens advance student maturation and provide privacy and support for students with a variety of dietary needs.
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Virginia Commonwealth University - Gladding Residence Center With American Campus Communities and Clark Nexsen
Affinity units allow larger groups with shared backgrounds or interests to live together and celebrate their unique experiences.
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The George Washington University - District House
The George Washington University - District House
Affinity Unit
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DATA
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Ayers Saint Gross understands the importance of research and believes that sharing our data contributes to creating better student life experiences.
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80 PROFESSIONAL AND GRADUATE HOUSING ALBANY VILLAGE GRADUATE STUDENT HOUSING ARTIST VILLAGE EMORY UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA SCHOOL OF THE ARTS APARTMENTS APARTMENTS SEMI-SUITES 535 BEDS 761 BEDS 456 BEDS 282,730 gsf 324,000 gsf 114,697 gsf 528 gsf per bed 426 gsf per bed 252 gsf per bed 5% outside unit space 7% outside unit space 29% outside unit space with American Campus Communities
Moody Nolan with American Campus Communities
LS3P
and
with
81 GREENSBORO HALL BRIDGE APARTMENTS SILVERSTEIN HALL RINGLING COLLEGE OF ART + DESIGN RINGLING COLLEGE OF ART + DESIGN DENISON UNIVERSITY SUITES APARTMENTS APARTMENTS 269 BEDS 183 BEDS 162 BEDS 74,487 gsf 77,200 gsf 70,000 gsf 277 gsf per bed 422 gsf per bed 432 gsf per bed 23% outside unit space 10% outside unit space 15% outside unit space
82 JOHNSON-WHITTLE AND PYON-CHEN HALLS GLADDING RESIDENCE CENTER DOUTHIT HILLS RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENT UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND, COLLEGE PARK VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH UNIVERSITY CLEMSON UNIVERSITY TRADITIONAL TRADITIONAL & SEMISUITES TRADITIONAL & APARTMENTS 903 BEDS 1,518 BEDS 1,656 BEDS 269,432 gsf 371,177 gsf 561,518 gsf 298 gsf per bed 245 gsf per bed 339 gsf per bed 28% outside unit space 20% outside unit space 13% outside unit space with Holder Construction Company with The Boudreaux Group with American Campus Communities and Clark Nexsen
83 TRIPPE HALL FIRST YEAR VILLAGE TUBMAN-LAWS HALL PENN STATE UNIVERSITY, BEHREND GOUCHER COLLEGE DELAWARE STATE UNIVERSITY TRADITIONAL TRADITIONAL SEMI-SUITES & APARTMENTS 251 BEDS 455 BEDS 620 BEDS 69,491 gsf 143,835 gsf 192,009 gsf 277 gsf per bed 319 gsf per bed 310 gsf per bed 24% outside unit space 30% outside unit space 18% outside unit space with Noelker and Hull Associates with American Campus Communities
STUDENT HOUSING SERVICES
• Renovation • Design of new halls and villages
Planning • Programming
• 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.
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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
• The George Washington University
College
Goucher College
James Madison University
Gallaudet University
Georgetown University
Georgia Institute of Technology • Gettysburg
Hamilton College
Holder Properties
Johns Hopkins University
Hood College
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
University
West Virginia University
Theological Seminary
Wesleyan University
West Texas A&M
Western Washington University
University of Colorado Boulder
Westminster
UNC School of the Arts
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