Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

Westfield State University: University Hall

  • 10/01/14
Westfield State University: University Hall

PHOTOS © ROBERT BENSON PHOTOGRAPHY

Architecture and design firm ADD Inc recently completed the renovation of Westfield State University’s new student residence, University Hall, in Westfield, MA. The construction of University Hall totals 139,000 square feet and adds 411 beds to the campus. The architecture and interior design of the building directly responds to how today’s students live and learn.

“Students today require more collaborative and interactive learning environments, in and out of the classroom,” states B.K. Boley, principal at ADD Inc. “We felt we had to go beyond enhancing the school’s facilities and services by designing ‘memorable’ spaces that truly enrich a student’s college experience and strengthen academic life.”

University Hall features one-, four- and six-bedroom suites, including singles and doubles, each with a shared suite bath, living room and kitchenette.

The surrounding woods and mountains inspired the architecture and interior design of the new building. Designed around the concept of a student’s journey of “walking through the woods toward the light,” ADD Inc created a building shaped like “two trees fallen in the forest” with a large arch that leads from a wooded overlook of Tekoa Mountain back to the campus quad.

Inside, student rooms and corridors extend like branches out to study perches in the tree canopy. Ground floor common areas and meeting rooms feel like the forest floor with wooded ceilings and colorful furnishings that evoke “wildflowers.”

Following this theme, the building’s exterior consists of highly textured red and black brick that resembles bark, while the inside communal courtyard is composed of wood-tone panels. The building’s Grand Arch is an all-glass, floor-to-ceiling five-story archway with open spaces for student lounging and studying.

ADD Inc’s primary objective was to provide diverse units with a variety of common space options that range from a large multipurpose room for university functions to common lounges and kitchens for socializing to intimate light-filled “perch” lounges that are ideal for quiet study and that showcase views of the surrounding woods.

This article originally appeared in the issue of .

Featured

  • Florida District Completes Construction on New Leadership Institute

    Pinellas County Schools near Tampa, Fla., recently announced that construction is complete on the new Dr. Michael A. Grego Leadership Institute, according to a news release. The district partnered with Rowe Architects for the project’s design and with Skanska for construction services.

  • Designing for Every Mind

    Learning environments have the power to shape not just what students know, but who they become. When a school is designed with genuine empathy—for the full range of ways students think, sense, and engage with the world—it becomes more than a building. It becomes a catalyst for growth, confidence, and belonging. That is the animating idea behind neurodiverse design, and it is one that is transforming how more architects and designers are thinking about school design.

  • Architectural Power for the Modern Campus Landscape

    For generations, an outdoor classroom only required a textbook and a patch of grass. Today, not only has the laptop replaced the printed pages, the rise of agile learning has turned campuses into study halls with students listening to lectures and researching topics from quads, gardens, and plazas. The challenge for architects and facility managers is to provide connectivity without cluttering the landscape with visual eyesores or creating safety hazards with extension cords.

  • Moline-Coal Valley School District to Consolidate Two Schools into New Facility

    The Moline-Coal Valley School District in Moline, Ill., recently broke ground on a new elementary school that will consolidate the students and staff from two existing schools, according to local news. Robert Ontiveros Elementary School will serve as the new home for Lincoln-Irving Elementary School and Willard Elementary School.