The new North Residential Commons on the University of Chicago campus is more than just a place for students to eat and sleep when they aren’t in class or studying. The 400,000-sf residence hall offers students a place to live that blurs the lines between a campus and a community.
Plazas, gardens, walkways, and courtyards connect four separate buildings that range from one to 15 floors. A single-story dining hall, equipped with floor-to-ceiling windows for abundant natural light, overlooks a central quad.
Eight “houses” accommodate 800 undergraduate students. Each house has its own hub, a three-story common area where students can gather, study, and relax. Also included are classrooms, music practice rooms, and 10,000 sf of ground-level retail space. A reading room resides on the top floor and offers views of the city and Lake Michigan.
An example of one of the three-story hubs. These hubs can be used by the students for anything ranging from studying to relaxing. Tom Harris Photography.
The Building Team used BIM to simplify the project’s complex geometry. Through the use of the model, the team was able to determine that the original knife-shaped edges of the exterior precast panels needed minor adjustments. The edges were susceptible to chipping, so the top edge of the panels was changed to a more blunt-shaped edge.
The building was designed to reflect the university’s distinctive housing system, where students of all years live and work together to achieve a higher level of social and academic success.
“More effective than the design was the extraordinary effort to meet the owner’s and users’ needs,” said Building Team Awards judge Peter Isaac, Vice President with Brailsford & Dunlavey, and a BD+C 2016 40 Under 40 honoree. “It is clear the Building Team worked in close coordination with the University of Chicago.”
Building Team – Submitting firm, general contractor Mortenson Construction Owner University of Chicago Architect Studio Gang Architects Structural engineer Magnusson Klemencic Associates Mechanical engineer dbHMS
General Information – Size 394,020 sf Cost $161 million Construction time July 2014 to September 2016 Delivery method Design-build
Related Stories
| Aug 11, 2010
Putting the Metal to the Petal
The Holocaust and Human Rights Center of Maine was founded in 1985, but the organization didn't have a permanent home until May 2008. That's when the Michael Klahr Center, which houses the HHRC, opened on the Augusta campus of the University of Maine. The design, by Boston-based architects Shepley Bulfinch Richardson & Abbott, was selected from among more than 200 entries in a university-s...
| Aug 11, 2010
Bronze Award: Alumni Gymnasium Renovation, Dartmouth College Hanover, N.H.
At a time when institutions of higher learning are spending tens of millions of dollars erecting massive, cutting-edge recreation and fitness centers, Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H., decided to take a more modest, historical approach. Instead of building an ultra-grand new facility, the university chose to breathe new life into its landmark Alumni Gymnasium by transforming the outdated 99-y...
| Aug 11, 2010
High-Performance Modular Classrooms Hit the Market
Over a five-day stretch last December, students at the Carroll School in Lincoln, Mass., witnessed the installation of a modular classroom building like no other. The new 950-sf structure, which will serve as the school's tutoring offices for the next few years, is loaded with sustainable features like sun-tunnel skylights, doubled-insulated low-e glazing, a cool roof, light shelves, bamboo tri...
| Aug 11, 2010
Fleet Library, Rhode Island School of Design
When tasked with transforming an early 1920s Italian Renaissance bank building into a fully functional library for the Rhode Island School of Design, the Building Team for RISD's Fleet Library found itself at odds with the project's two main goals. On the one hand, the team would have to carefully restore and preserve the historic charm and ornate architectural details of the landmark space, d...
| Aug 11, 2010
Cronkite Communication School Speaks to Phoenix Redevelopment
The city of Phoenix has sprawling suburbs, but its outward expansion caused the downtown core to stagnate—a problem not uncommon to other major metropolitan areas. Reviving the city became a hotbed issue for Mayor Phil Gordon, who envisioned a vibrant downtown that offered opportunities for living, working, learning, and playing.
