Reimagining College Residence Halls: Supporting Student Needs and Preparing Them for Life After College

Reimagining College Residence Halls explores how residence halls can provide students with a balance of privacy and socialization opportunities while also being used as a platform to enhance student life skills for life after college. This design uses four types of spaces (resident rooms, socialization spaces, study zones, and life skills education spaces) to achieve these goals. Resident rooms are designed to provide students with natural boundaries of personal space through the use of symmetry and the inclusion of flexible furniture systems. Socialization spaces encourage students to build connections with fellow residents in either large groups or in passing in the halls. Finally, life skills education spaces provide students with the appropriate environment to enhance certain life
skills that they will need to have as they exit college and enter the real world. These spaces may include flexible learning environments or specialty spaces designed to teach certain skills. The goal is for the design to be used as a template for residence halls all around the country.