Q&A Nov/Dec 2008 – Housing for the Next Generation

The tech-savvy, praise-happy Millennial generation is here and its members want more out of the university housing experience than other generations. In order to attract and retain students, higher education institutions must learn a new model for student housing, according to architects Christopher Hill, principal of CBT/Childs/Bertman Tseckares Inc., and Janet Stegman, principal of Stegman + Associates.

Hill and Stegman spoke at the Society for College and University Planning annual conference workshop “Housing Trends of the 21st Century: Addressing Today’s Student Expectations.” They discussed the topic with School Construction News during a phone interview.

Q: What are some trends in student expectations for student housing?

Janet Stegman (JS): The students who are coming to school right now, Millennials, have grown up with a fair amount of privacy and some privilege. Their expectations are formed by the market and what they see in popular cultural. These students are very connected and communicative and they see themselves as part of a global society. They want a lot of personal privacy, but they also want to be part of a bigger community where they can communicate and work and be engaged.

Christopher Hill (CH): A lot of the work that we do for design and programming is built around creating and reinforcing communities. Campuses are now being populated with students from all over the world and these different students come with different cultural backgrounds and different ways of relating to each other. Universities and colleges are struggling to find out how to create a sense of a universal quality to their campus and residential life.

One building type or program does not fit for all cultures. We’ve seen a desire to create a more flexible, universal type of accommodation for programming within a building. Many more common spaces come into vogue as well.

Q: What are some of the concepts you incorporate with common spaces?

JS: We incorporate smart, multi-functional spaces in classrooms and lounges. Anywhere where you have wireless Internet connectivity, you can provide places to study and little pods of activity. If anything, we are trying to be judicious in allocation of common spaces.

CH: The learning experience is not limited to the classroom and every place is a place to learn. Common areas include spaces were small and large groups can meet to study. Classrooms within residential halls are en vogue and other study areas on the first floor.

Q: What are the most common nontraditional study spaces?

CH: We see more impromptu study spaces, such as a fattened corridor or window seats that might be adjacent to a room or near an entry. Staircases are places to meet and greet. We have done a number of exterior stairs that have been fattened to create a place to sit, hang out or gather.

When we do study rooms, we try to incorporate a lot of glass for outside views and for the corridor so there is connectivity between the residence hall and the circulation and movement. They can see what’s happening and going on; it’s not an isolated, closed-off environment.

Q: What are some of the recreation and athletic concepts that are applied to residence halls?

JS: Rooms that are setup for video games are much more multi-functional to allow for flexibility. It’s not just a room full of arcade games, and the space can be used for other purposes.

Residence halls are installing smaller athletic and recreating facilities that complement the campus’ larger facilities. It’s more of a body shop concept that does not require monitoring — weight machines instead of free weights — that can take up very little space.

Students operate at all hours, and the smaller athletic facilities allow them to jump on a treadmill at 2 a.m. after studying. You can incorporate a limited number of machines and keep them nonsupervised.

CH: Music practice rooms can also allow students to play guitar or piano. It’s another outlet for recreation that takes up a relatively small amount of space.

The best strategy is to combine common spaces to concentrate the energy instead of dispersing it. Some architects distribute amenities throughout the building, thinking that it creates a lot of activity. It actually decentralizes the energy and creates isolated spots where things get territorialized or damaged. We are really trying to keep those common spaces near the central core of circulation so that they are used and they create chance encounters and a sense of security.

JS: We are also trying to make laundry rooms more social. We are bringing them up out of the basement wherever possible and linking them to fitness areas, game rooms or a lounge. There is a lot more of a retail aesthetic that we are trying introduce into residence halls.

CH: In all of our laundries, we have a lot of glass so occupants can participate visually with the space that’s next to the laundry room. Washers are also incorporating electronic notifications that send a message to a laptop that tells the person when their laundry is done.

Q: Some of these amenities sound expensive. Have you seen a big cost increase?

JS: Building costs have increased in staggering ways. When we concentrate activities and make spaces flexible, we are also trying to get reduced redundancy with spaces. Providing overlapping activities is a way of doing that.

CH: In the past, the residence hall was basically a double-loaded barracks. Now, to be competitive, most campuses are turning away from that aesthetic and looking at Millennial desires to have more independence and privacy in their living environment.

The common spaces are larger than they were in the 1960s and 1970s, which has driven the costs up. In past, residence halls were probably the least expensive building on campuses. Now, they cost as much as labs and classrooms. Schools are somewhat forced to compete in the market to get the brightest and best students.

The other phenomenon is the factor of parents in the design-making process. They are very involved with where their students are going. The term “helicopter parent” has been used to define their activity — they hover over their sons and daughters.

Q: Is the trend for more amenities in residential halls going to continue?

JS: It’s going to continue with caveat. I think we may get more European with our space allocations and the way we use space.

CH: It will be more multi-functional within smaller spaces.

JS: Flexibility will allow schools to kind of hedge their bets. It appears that parents will continue to be more involved and we are going to be asked to be more judicious, cost-effective and smart about what we deliver.

CH: There is more construction still to happen at residential facilities because a lot of campuses have not renovated or kept up with the demand. It’s becoming a marketing point. As the economy starts to level off, you will probably see a little more renovation occurring. Schools will look at their existing stock and renovate or reposition their facilities.

You are going to continue to see a lot of common spaces. I don’t think it’s going to go back to a double-loaded layout that was designed just as a place to sleep. You can’t go back to the farm once you’ve seen Paris.

Q: It sounds like an interesting time to be an architect.

CH: It is exciting because it has become a more interesting building type. Before, it was, “If we build it, they will come.” Now, if you don’t build it a certain way they are not going to come; they are going to go someplace else. It has become a competitive, benchmarking piece between institutions. As a result, the architectural programming and designs have reached the level of some of the other more academic and donor-driven facilities that have traditionally been the vanguards to attract students.