Learning Spaces
Residential life is a vital component to the experience of going to college. A well-documented priority for the University's residential life program has been the replacement and renovation of upperclassmen housing facilities, many of which are severely deteriorated, expensive to maintain and operate, and do not offer an experience consistent with the value of a UE education. Not contributing significantly to on-campus vitality, many of these upperclassmen residential units are immediately off campus and are located within a variety of single-family dwellings and apartment buildings. Another priority for residential life is the renovation or replacement of Hughes Residence Hall, a prominently located residence hall at the corner of Weinbach and Walnut Avenues. Additional desires expressed during our research include creating Greek life community spaces, providing appropriate learning/living/community space, and cultivating a greater sense of variety and vitality.
As potential sites were studied, a parallel effort was undertaken by Brailsford and Dunlavey to study such financial factors as existing on- and off-campus housing rates, peer institution room and board comparisons, and likely market demand for new and renovated housing. Numerous focus group meetings were held with students to build an understanding of student life on campus. From these sessions, the planning team gathered the following thoughts:
- Avoid long corridors — foster frequent interaction.
- Diversity in the apartment-style options is important.
- Need more suites for freshmen and sophomores with singles mixed in.
- New housing on or closer to campus than the current outlying housing.
- Need to have a good balance of living/learning and destination apartments.
- Hughes Residence Hall provides 250 beds (currently utilized).
- Apartments and houses provide (not including North Hall) 260 beds.
- New housing facility a minimum of 250-290 beds.
- 300 additional beds distributed across classes.
- Interested in exploring townhouses for themed or small-group housing.
- 40 beds is an ideal increment for a wing.
To foster greater vitality within the geographic center of campus, enhance the exterior edges of campus, and help unify both north and south sides of campus, the master plan proposes concentrating sites for new residential facilities along Walnut Street into two distinct areas or villages at both the east and west edges of campus. Both villages' site planning capacities have been studied using the existing University land ownership. A mixture of traditional suite-style and apartment-style residence hall units and townhouse units were assumed for planning purposes. As a general strategy, the planning team strove to identify underclassmen housing sites either on or directly adjacent to the core campus and to locate upperclassmen sites further out to foster a greater sense of independence.
New Townhouses
East Village Intersection
West Residential Village Overview
View details about each area below:
