flexiblefullpage -
billboard - default
interstitial1 - interstitial
catfish1 - bottom
Currently Reading

Yale University breaks ground on nation's largest Living Building student housing complex

University Buildings

Yale University breaks ground on nation's largest Living Building student housing complex

The net-positive residential complex is Bruner/Cott’s second Living Building Challenge project.


By Peter Fabris, Contributing Editor | December 8, 2023
Yale University breaks ground on the nation's largest Living Building student housing complex
Rendering: Bruner/Cott Architects

A groundbreaking on Oct. 11 kicked off a project aiming to construct the largest Living Building Challenge-certified residence on a university campus. The Living Village, a 45,000 sf home for Yale University Divinity School graduate students, “will make an ecological statement about the need to build in harmony with the natural world while training students to become ‘apostles of the environment’,” according to Bruner/Cott, which is leading the design team that includes Höweler + Yoon Architecture and Andropogon Associates.

Designed to achieve 24.4 EUI (energy use intensity per sf annually), the facility will be net-positive for energy. Solar roof tiles and a photovoltaic canopy over a parking lot will generate 310,000 kWh of electricity, or 105% of the power the residence consumes averaged out over a year, according to Jason Jewhurst, AIA, Principal, Bruner/Cott.

The power system will have a net-metered connection to the grid. “We expect to generate surplus energy for six months of the year,” Jewhurst says. Ducted air-source heat pumps will provide heating and cooling. Fresh air will be supplied by a separate dedicated outdoor air system (DOAS).

A water reclamation system with a capacity for about 900,000 gallons a year will treat greywater for reuse in toilets, laundry, and drip irrigation, Jewhurst says. Underground cisterns will collect rainwater runoff from the roof.

Below-market-rate residential units will range from micro studios to one and two-bedroom apartments. A single-loaded corridor layout ensures that all rooms have views of a central courtyard. Common areas will include lounges, study nooks, and a community kitchen that will host celebrations and events. Outdoor amenities on the 4.5-acre site include an amphitheater, community terrace, and regenerative landscape over a former parking lot.

The superstructure will be assembled using low-carbon mass-timber and dimensional lumber. All building materials will meet the rigorous requirements of the Living Building Challenge’s materials petal that specifies products free of toxins and harmful chemicals.

Real-time water and energy usage monitors will provide residents and the university community with insight on sustainable buildings.

On the project team:
Owner and/or developer: Yale Divinity School
Design architect: Bruner/Cott Architects with Höweler + Yoon Architecture
Landscape Architect: Andropogon Associates
MEP engineer: van Zelm Engineers
Structural engineer: Silman

Yale University breaks ground on nation's largest Living Building student housing complex
Rendering: Bruner/Cott Architects
Yale University breaks ground on nation's largest Living Building student housing complex
Rendering: Bruner/Cott Architects
Yale University breaks ground on nation's largest Living Building student housing complex
Rendering: Bruner/Cott Architects
Yale University breaks ground on nation's largest Living Building student housing complex
Rendering: Bruner/Cott Architects

 

Related Stories

Education Facilities | Nov 30, 2022

10 ways to achieve therapeutic learning environments

Today’s school should be much more than a place to learn—it should be a nurturing setting that celebrates achievements and responds to the challenges of many different users.

University Buildings | Nov 13, 2022

University of Washington opens mass timber business school building

Founders Hall at the University of Washington Foster School of Business, the first mass timber building at Seattle campus of Univ. of Washington, was recently completed. The 84,800-sf building creates a new hub for community, entrepreneurship, and innovation, according the project’s design architect LMN Architects.

University Buildings | Nov 2, 2022

New Univ. of Calif. Riverside business school building will support hybrid learning

  A design-build partnership of Moore Ruble Yudell and McCarthy Building Companies will collaborate on a new business school building at the University of California at Riverside.

School Construction | Oct 31, 2022

Claremont McKenna College science center will foster integrated disciplinary research

  The design of the Robert Day Sciences Center at Claremont McKenna College will support “a powerful, multi-disciplinary, computational approach to the grand socio-scientific challenges and opportunities of our time—gene, brain, and climate,” says Hiram E. Chodosh, college president.

University Buildings | Oct 27, 2022

The Collaboratory Building will expand the University of Florida’s School of Design, Construction, and Planning

Design firm Brooks + Scarpa recently broke ground on a new addition to the University of Florida’s School of Design, Construction, and Planning (DCP).

Higher Education | Oct 24, 2022

Wellesley College science complex modernizes facility while preserving architectural heritage

A recently completed expansion and renovation of Wellesley College’s science complex yielded a modernized structure for 21st century STEM education while preserving important historical features.

BAS and Security | Oct 19, 2022

The biggest cybersecurity threats in commercial real estate, and how to mitigate them

Coleman Wolf, Senior Security Systems Consultant with global engineering firm ESD, outlines the top-three cybersecurity threats to commercial and institutional building owners and property managers, and offers advice on how to deter and defend against hackers. 

University Buildings | Oct 18, 2022

A carbon-neutral-ready university campus opens in Hong Kong

In early September, the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) officially opened its new, KPF-designed campus in Nansha, Guangzhou (GZ).

University Buildings | Oct 7, 2022

Auburn’s new culinary center provides real-world education

The six-story building integrates academic and revenue-generating elements.

boombox1 - default
boombox2 -
native1 -

More In Category




Mass Timber

Bjarke Ingels Group designs a mass timber cube structure for the University of Kansas

Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) and executive architect BNIM have unveiled their design for a new mass timber cube structure called the Makers’ KUbe for the University of Kansas School of Architecture & Design. A six-story, 50,000-sf building for learning and collaboration, the light-filled KUbe will house studio and teaching space, 3D-printing and robotic labs, and a ground-level cafe, all organized around a central core.

halfpage1 -

Most Popular Content

  1. 2021 Giants 400 Report
  2. Top 150 Architecture Firms for 2019
  3. 13 projects that represent the future of affordable housing
  4. Sagrada Familia completion date pushed back due to coronavirus
  5. Top 160 Architecture Firms 2021