Georgia Tech Glenn + Towers Residence Halls by VMDO Architects

Georgia Institute of Technology Glenn + Towers Residence Halls

G eorgia Tech G lenn & Towers Residence Hall Renovation + Addition

Project Overview Glenn and Towers Residence Halls are home to over 600 freshmen. By hosting Georgia Tech’s Freshman Experience, the buildings help incoming residents build a personal and academic foundation within the context of a diverse and inclusive community. The LEED Gold revitalization of the halls included the retrofit of the existing attics into student rooms, the addition and reconfiguration of floor study rooms and lounges, and the construction of a central connector building that serves as a common social and academic hub shared by the residents. The design of Glenn and Towers improves connectivity and removes barriers to the way students interact – with one another and with the larger Georgia Tech campus. A top engineering and science university, Georgia Tech needed a design that would allow students to experience the kinds of spaces they will one day live and work in – specifically, flexible spaces that dissolve boundaries between work and play, study, and socialization. The design of the glass-wrapped connector building, situated between the two residence halls, supports and highlights a nearly endless combination of student activities while creating a graceful strategy for surmounting a topographically challenging site from the street up into a renewed quad for Glenn and Towers residents.

G eorgia Tech G lenn & Towers Residence Hall Renovation + Addition

Strengthening Campus Connections Georgia Tech’s Planning and Design Commission sought a new vision for Glenn and Towers that would support living-learning opportunities for students while enhancing the campus precinct. Working in tandem with a master planning team focused on broader strategies to improve the local campus neighborhood, the Glenn and Towers team designed a series of carefully orchestrated earthworks, walks, and outdoor spaces to wed new construction to existing infrastructures as well as larger planning efforts for the east side of campus. Preexisting site conditions at Glenn and Towers made circulation and accessibility a serious challenge for students and visitors. Because of a steep grade change, the quad of Glenn and Towers was completely cut off from the surrounding campus, leaving it disjointed and largely forgotten. New construction needed to provide an easily accessible route into the buildings from the public walks bounding the site. The design of the connector building – providing vertical access from the street to the quad and into each of the formerly inaccessible buildings – bridges quad and street landscapes for the first time and creates new ways to access the existing buildings. A lower level “Main Street” linking the connector to both residence halls connects living and learning programming while facilitating relationships between residents. This coordinated circulation has resulted in the increased use of shared facilities across all three buildings. Students can now safely traverse the residential complex and utilize the building’s various resources without leaving the security of the halls or having to go outside in inclement weather.

G eorgia Tech G lenn & Towers Residence Hall Renovation + Addition

SECTION PERSPECTIVE: EXISTING

SECTION PERSPECTIVE: NEW ADDITION + RENOVATION

G eorgia Tech G lenn & Towers Residence Hall Renovation + Addition

Building Community + Enchancing Student Relationships The refreshingly modern connector building acts as the nexus of student life for Glenn and Towers residents. It is situated at the head of the restored and improved quad and serves as the physical and cultural center of the community. Its location between the two housing buildings draws students from both hemispheres of the quad and provides a grand public space for events large and small. The upper level of the connector serves as the living room for the entire neighborhood. Equipped with the amenities today’s students might expect to find in high end lounges and conference spaces, this public space features mobile furnishings that allow the room to be reconfigured to suit any type of gathering, from informal study clusters to lectures and banquets. A full kitchen flanks the space and provides a platform for communal cooking and dining. A gas fireplace provides a warm and welcoming environment around which students converge for conversation and camaraderie. At the street level, the connector houses a suite of group study spaces and an active learning classroom replete with the technology necessary to support a wide range of academic pursuits. Students living in Glenn and Towers can reserve these rooms for team-based projects or for their own personal study use. Occupying the north edge of the site and visually connecting levels one and two is the wood-clad, double height fitness room that provides a place for residents to exercise and recharge. The collaborative study and fitness spaces are all accessible and visible from the connector building’s central circulation spine thanks to transparent partition walls along the hallway. Informal seating, lighting, and building signage are coordinated to help maximize the usefulness of this campus crossroads and create the kinds of informal spaces that support serendipitous interaction amongst residents.

G eorgia Tech G lenn & Towers Residence Hall Renovation + Addition

Inspiring Connection through Transparency A major factor in the reorganization of the existing Glenn and Towers was the desire to foster a sense of individual belonging within the large residence halls. The redesign of the residential floors carve out discreet spaces for study and socializing that support community building through transparent details. In this way, the residents of any given wing of the halls have the opportunity engage with friends and neighbors and begin to establish a sense of community with each other. As an open and inviting pavilion for Glenn and Towers residents, the connector building reveals the active programs and spaces within by visually opening outward to the campus through expansive exterior glass walls. Unlike the residence halls it serves to connect, the connector building is less of a protective space and more of a platform for shared public experience. It creates a window into the quad landscape – welcoming student participation and encouraging community engagement around an identifiably modern hub of social and academic activity. The landscape spaces that envelop Glenn and Towers and connect the quad to the campus beyond are carefully designed to extend the connectivity of indoor programming outside. Informal outdoor gathering spaces, marked by benches or low seat walls, echo the public spaces within the adjacent buildings by creating a sense of connection between the interior and exterior. In this way, buildings and landscapes unite to strengthen placemaking. The study terrace, dining terrace, and the small pockets of park space that line the edges of the quad all help stitch the composition of interior and exterior pedestrian-friendly rooms together.

G eorgia Tech G lenn & Towers Residence Hall Renovation + Addition

Active Learning Classroom

G eorgia Tech G lenn & Towers Residence Hall Renovation + Addition

Enhancing Teaching + Learning At Georgia Tech, one of the nation’s leading engineering and science schools, there is a palpable sense amongst students that they want to experience the kinds of spaces they will one day live and work in. This world is highly fluid and incredibly flexible, and often allows aspects of work and life to overlap and intersect. Georgia Tech recognizes the importance of providing contemporary facilities that are designed to meet students’ growing expectations for flexibility. With Georgia Tech’s academically-rigorous curriculum and culture in mind, programming efforts focused on developing the right mix of academic spaces for Glenn and Towers residents. The resulting design provides a range of flexible spaces for various sized groups. Study rooms on each residential floor can accommodate 12 students. In the connector building, study rooms can support individual and small groups involving up to 6 students, and the active learning classroom can comfortably support at group of 30. The large flexible lounge at the quad level of the connector can host a variety of academic events and accommodate 100 students in lecture layout. The active learning classroom is an example of a flexible learning space that can accommodate any kind of academic activity. Its mobile tables and chairs are designed to provide a variety of configurations, from rows of seating, to clusters of tables that support small group collaborative work and a wide variety of table arrangements in between. Technology is situated throughout the room to support the array of furniture configurations. Writing surfaces are deployed around the space so that one is never without the ability to share ideas with colleagues and classmates.

G eorgia Tech G lenn & Towers Residence Hall Renovation + Addition

Active Learning Classroom

G eorgia Tech G lenn & Towers Residence Hall Renovation + Addition

Living Experience + Renovation Strategy

When organized around a diverse palette of student amenities, living units can enrich the residential experience for students. While the renovation of Glenn and Towers did not involve the redesign of living units, care was taken to ensure that updates to residential spaces complemented the halls’ new student life amenities. New interior finishes were added in existing lounges, kitchens, and residential units to refresh the living spaces of the halls. A creative transformation of attic dormers resulted in seven new residence rooms in each building – monetizing previously unused spaces. Cost effective renovations to MEP systems resulted in an 18% reduction in energy consumption and a 48% reduction in water use in the halls’ first year of occupancy. Sustainable design strategies support healthy indoor air quality, daylighting opportunities, and the use of low emitting materials. The project achieved LEED Gold certification in 2015.

G eorgia Tech G lenn & Towers Residence Hall Renovation + Addition

Tailored for Technology Glenn and Towers features a wide range of digital tools to help fuel academic inquiry. In the connector building, the active learning classroom is outfitted with projectors and screens that encourage an immersive digital experience. Multiple screens along the perimeter of the room allow for simultaneous projection of one or more problem sets, ensuring visibility and access for all participants. The various screens also encourage the room to be used for group learning – a growing trend in higher education. Video, audio and multi-media presentations can all be hosted on the room’s flexible presentation platform. Across the hall, smaller group study rooms expand the on-site learning opportunities by allowing students to converge and collaborate around digital media in a more intimate setting. These study spaces are each outfitted with a large flat-screen monitor that can be used by students who bring their own devices. Participants can share content with the group via screen-sharing while the group can collectively communicate with other remote users if desired. Beyond the facilities within the connector building, floor lounges and study spaces in the residence halls house the equipment necessary to support students working in both collaborative and individual settings. Each floor lounge has a large flat screen TV that provides residents with a central place to congregate and relax.

Georgia Tech Glenn & Towers Residence Hall Renovation + Addition

Learning Space Programs

Site Plan

0 10 20

160’

G eorgia Tech G lenn & Towers Residence Hall Renovation + Addition

Typical Floor

Fitness Academic Resident Advisor Apartment Group Study Lounge Bathroom Renovated Bedrooms First Floor

G eorgia Tech G lenn & Towers Residence Hall Renovation + Addition

Architectural Language + Materiality Upon first glance, the form, scale, and materiality of the connector building appear to be in stark contrast to the statuesque brick buildings that are gathered around it. The streamlined container – comprised largely of steel, glass, and cement-fiber panel – feels markedly different than the surrounding traditional buildings not simply because the building isn’t brick but because it takes a different approach to relating to the campus and its architectural neighbors. Designed to foster connectivity and enhance accessibility, the connector – with its transparent aesthetic and materiality – physically expresses the building’s mission. Minimal interior partitions and a careful attention to window placement permit natural light to reach every space in the building. The fitness room and commons space also benefit from expansive floor-to-ceiling glazing that helps make each feel like an extension of the landscape beyond. From the outside, the connector’s large expanses of glass and floating roof plane create the impression that it is more garden pavilion than university building, allowing it to appear equal parts interior and exterior space. At night, the pavilion buzzes with activity and becomes a glowing beacon of student life at Georgia Tech.

G eorgia Tech G lenn & Towers Residence Hall Renovation + Addition

Fitness + Wellness It is widely accepted that the body fuels the mind. In Georgia Tech’s academically strenuous environment, students need opportunities for refueling and recharging – whether at large recreation centers with a variety of exercise options or at smaller, more easily accessible fitness centers distributed around campus. The facility at Glenn and Towers fits into the latter category, aiming to appeal to those residents looking for a convenient means of exercising without battling lines at the gym or having to travel across campus. The space is equipped with several treadmills, lifecycles, and weight machines to provide an adequate range of options for students of every fitness level. In addition to its own dedicated fitness center, Glenn and Towers ties into a far-reaching system of bike and pedestrian networks that span the entire Georgia Tech campus. As an urban campus, the university has taken major steps towards creating a safe environment for students to navigate the campus on foot or bike. Ample sidewalks and campus paths as well as dedicated bike lanes and bicycle storage facilities guarantee that students have a variety of exercise opportunities at their disposal.

VMDO Architects vmdo.com | 434.296.5684 200 E Market St Charlottesville, VA 22902 2000 Pennsylvania Ave, Suite 7000 Washington, DC 20006

For more information on Higher Education work please contact:

For more information on Student Housing work please contact:

Joe Atkins, AIA, LEED AP BD+C atkins@vmdo.com

Michele Westrick, AIA, LEED AP westrick@vmdo.com Frances Lengowski, AIA, LEED AP BD+C lengowski@vmdo.com

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