Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

Construction Complete on University of Colorado Boulder’s Newest and Largest Residence Hall

  • 12/11/19

BOULDER, CO – The new Williams Village East residence hall at the University of Colorado Boulder proudly welcomed its first students in August for the fall 2019 semester. The 178,000-square-foot residence hall, the university’s largest, houses a total of 705 students. The $96.7 million residence hall was designed by St. Louis-based KWK Architects as part of the design-build team, which also included architect-of-record alm2s of Fort Collins, CO, and Whiting-Turner Contracting Company of Denver, CO. Construction on Williams Village East began in August 2017.

Important aspects of the seven-story hall’s design is its sustainability, dedication to student privacy and focus on community.

UC Boulder Residence Hall 

Williams Village East features a new bathroom design that gives each student maximum privacy. The gender-neutral, individual bathrooms each include a shower, sink, toilet and changing space to accommodate student requests for more privacy.

Williams Village East was designed to achieve a LEED Platinum certification under LEED v4. Some of its sustainability features include numerous windows to let in natural light and windows with electrochromic glazing that adjust the shading based on the time of day and year. A pond that uses ditch water from snowmelt supplies the Williams Village Campus and saves the campus 13 million gallons of water per year.

The windows in the student bedrooms feature magnets that turn off the heating or cooling systems when the windows are opened, and a vacancy sensor in each room turns off the lights and turns down the heating or cooling levels when students leave the room. A black switch turns off “phantom loads,” or electronics that are left plugged in when not in use to conserve electricity. Other renewable energy features of the building include solar panels, LED lighting, recycling areas, green outlets, thermostats in each room, low-flow toilets and urinals, door closers and a VRF HVAC system.

Sustainability is also playing a role in building community in the new hall by grouping floors into sustainability teams that compete to use the least amount of water and energy. Winning teams can earn community reward parties throughout the semester.

Community wellness is also promoted in the building’s wayfinding graphics which feature photography of local Boulder nature destinations. The destinations are also mapped out on a full-scale wall map in the first-floor game room, encouraging students to get out and find the featured destinations. Another way community and student interaction is promoted is in the main level great room, which features a community center staffed by students that includes a kitchen and living room area, plus a gaming area with large televisions hooked up to Sony PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch, plus other games.

The Williams Village East exterior was designed to match the architectural style and finish of Williams Village North, which opened in August 2011.

Featured

  • California School District Completes Elementary School Modernization

    The San Diego Unified School District in San Diego, Calif., recently held a ribbon-cutting for a whole-site modernization of Pacific Beach Elementary School, according to local news. The school first opened with one building in 1930 and added six more between 1938 and 1957.

  • Full Sail University Announces First Student Housing Facility

    Full Sail University in Winter Park, Fla., recently announced that development has begun on its first student housing community, according to a news release. The university is partnering with Nvision Development for construction and long-term management of the facility, which will stand five stories and have the capacity for more than 570 beds.

  • Indiana Wesleyan University Schedules Grand Opening for New Welcome Center

    Indiana Wesleyan University recently announced that it will soon open a new Welcome Center on its campus in Marion, Ind., according to a news release. The facility will serve as the home base for prospective students and their families to learn more about the university and student life there. A ribbon-cutting ceremony is scheduled for February 19.

  • Chartwells Launches Campus Dining Evaluation Framework

    Contract food-service management provider Chartwells Higher Education recently announced the launch of BLUEPRINT, according to a news release. The evaluation framework was designed to provide a data-driven and customizable roadmap towards optimizing campus dining services and, by extension, the student experience.