Student Housing Business is the voice of the student housing industry.
Issue link: https://studenthousingbusiness.epubxp.com/i/564824
SPECIALIZED HOUSING STUDENT HOUSING BUSINESS .COM JULY/AUGUST 2015 51 ating honors colleges because they want to recruit the best and brightest students." At San Diego State University, Pierce says, students in its new honors college live in Zura Hall, a residence hall built in 1968 but currently undergoing renovations. The honors college built by American Campus Communities at Arizona State University, Barrett, is custom-designed, has its own food service, and includes traditional housing as well as apartment-style housing within it. According to Pierce, it was designed to have honors students move in as freshmen to the tra- ditional-style and literally live in the honors college their entire aca- demic tenure by moving as upper- classmen to the apartment-style residences. Greek Life Traditionally found of-campus in a cluster of privately owned and managed homes, Greek hous- ing is returning to some college campuses in a symbiotic relation- ship between the university and national chapters of organizations both large and small. Much Greek housing nation- wide is functionally and physi- cally obsolete, and because enroll- ment in chapters has trended downward, the of-campus hous- es are not flling to capacity and not meeting standards for energy efciency and Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) standards. Several universities are divid- ing existing housing stock, divid- ing unused land for new develop- ment projects or leasing land to Greek chapters, for the purpose of bringing Greek organizations closer to campus. At Southern Polytechnic State University in Marietta, Georgia, which this year was consolidated with Kennesaw State University, RISE (then Ambling University Development Group) built a spe- cial interest village that includes 10 houses with 12 beds each, as well as a central meeting room, kitchen and living room area. The houses were arranged in a community layout and have a traditional colonial design with full brick exterior, as well as front porches with two-story tall col- umns. Each house was custom- ized by its respective special interest group before construc- tion, including brick selection and exterior design, as well as inte- rior design. The village includes a community building that can be reserved by any group for special functions. Pierce is currently develop- ing a similar village at Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio. "It's a challenge to keep the 40 to 50 beds of houses from past generations occupied," says Pierce. The BGSU project on campus will feature 33 town- homes that mostly will be three- and four-plex units of largely 12 to 18 beds, and include chapter facilities below the housing. The village is expected to deliver in August 2016. When it comes to leasing uni- versity land to national chapters for the purposes of development, Pierce is skeptical. "Individual chapters nationally have their own priorities and timing and fnancial resources," he says. "It takes a lot longer to absorb the lots if they have to fgure out their own fnancing plans." Pierce believes the most stream- lined way to build a Greek vil- lage on a university campus is to fnance it with university- or foundation-afliated bonds where a critical mass can build all at once. fLexibiLity Not all on-campus housing is being developed or even redevel- oped with a specifc student seg- ment in mind. Because it's so dif- cult to know the future of student demographics, and so costly to constantly redevelop large build- ings, Robb says, "There should always be a goal to bring fex- ibility to specialty housing design (or any housing design), since the specialty housing needs, prefer- ences and confgurations in 2015 may be quite diferent than the needs and confgurations in 10, 20 or even 50 years," he says. "To whatever extent design can be fexible and adaptable, the chanc- es of long-term facility viability, resident satisfaction and fnancial success are greatly enhanced." Skolnicki points out that while many facilities are already designed to meet ADA standards and LGBT accommodations, cam- puses are already doing that in blended ways that can be repur- posed depending on student need. A community bathroom on a foor's hall may also have a single-stall bathroom next door for those who need more pri- vacy or have accessibility issues. Similarly, a two-bedroom apart- ment-style residence may be used for a handicap student's caregiver to stay. "You're not calling it out specif- cally as such," she says, "you're just giving students more places to feel comfortable." SHB for sustainable student communities. MODERN WISDOM + BOLD DESIGN 479.455.5577 | info@modusstudio.com | www.modusstudio.com The Cardinal - LEED Gold®