After student housing developers slowed construction amid the pandemic, they are once again building at a brisk clip. Some 46,000 student housing beds are under construction, most of which are at large universities, and nearly 30,000 beds are expected to be completed this year, according to Yardi Matrix, a commercial real estate software provider and research organization.
While new developments are trending down from the previous two years, they are well above the total of 23,500 student housing beds added to the market in 2022 and are expected to remain above 30,000 beds through 2029, reports Yardi Matrix, which tracks 200 of the largest and most prestigious universities in the country.
That steady pace of development is bringing with it design changes aimed at pleasing students and their parents. By and large, the changes are putting a new spin on amenities and spaces associated with the established themes of hospitality and health and wellness, while emphasizing more social interaction and efficiency.
The goal, student housing observers say, is to create an environment that promotes more studious behavior, the type of conduct that student housing in some cases failed to wholly support in the past, says Brett Rhode, founding partner of Rhode Partners, a full-service architecture firm based in Austin, Texas.
“We’re stepping back a little bit and thinking more about a student’s specific needs related to academic life and less about the type of features and activities that would suggest students aren’t at school,” Rhode says. “We still want to provide fun activities and comfort elements, but we also want to support their academic endeavors and provide an environment that stimulates thinking.”
Mary Cook, founder and president of Mary Cook Associates, sums up the shift this way: “What’s not hot in student housing are gimmicky amenities such as lazy rivers, trendy juvenile design, and thoughtless non-performing spaces,” she declares. “Students have said, ‘Forget that stuff. Give us great study spaces.’”
Study Hall Diversity
Those great study spaces range from private nooks to group rooms, all of which are a “must-have in modern student housing developments,” says Mohamed Mohsen, a principal with Niles Bolton Associates, an architecture firm with offices in Atlanta and the Washington, D.C., area. “They are designed with different learning styles in mind,” he adds, “and typically get a lot of use.”
At the University of Tennessee, StudioSIX5 designed five different types of study spaces with different configurations in the Union Cumberland Knoxville project that opened in 2024, states Claire Richards, a principal with the Austin-based firm. All five types available can be found on many of the individual floors.
“Some study rooms are task-oriented and contain a computer desk and chair for privacy, others have big meeting tables for collaboration, and still others have sofas,” says Richards, who is the director of multifamily, student housing and hospitality studio at StudioSIX5. “I think we’re in a correction phase and are now providing spaces that can make students more successful.”
Additionally, studios designed to facilitate video and podcast productions are becoming more common say Cook and Bobby Tait, a senior partner at Rhode Partners. That’s a result of professors and instructors encouraging students to harness technology and media to develop and pursue academic projects, particularly as alternatives to linear learning methods increase in popularity, adds Cook. So far, her firm has designed such studios in projects at the University of Notre Dame and Arizona State University.
Multiple Purpose Space
The enhanced academic focus hasn’t come at the expense of social spaces, and how the social and academic amenities are divvied up still varies among developers, Tait says. “Overall, the shift to a more academic bent is there, but each of our clients is providing a little different personality at their buildings,” he observes. “Some have amenities that they will throw into the fun bucket, where others are totally academically focused.”
In many instances, designers are seeking ways to create rooms that can serve a variety of purposes, say Tait and Jason Osborne, director of business development for Rosemann & Associates, an architecture and structural engineering firm based in Kansas City, Missouri.
Often that might involve capturing the atmosphere of the favorite student coffee shop in town for certain periods of the day when residents want to socialize in a place with music, sunlight, greenery or some other vibe that can be recreated, Osborne says. At other times, the spaces can be converted to study areas.“In the middle of the day, kids aren’t thinking about their studies — they want a social hub or meeting space that can turn their mood up,” he explains. “But after that, the space can host kids who need to do homework or prepare for exams.”
Tech-Free Time
In some cases, dual usage occurs organically, says Kelly Naylor, vice president and senior partner with BKV Group, a Minneapolis-based firm that provides architecture, interior design and other services. For example, when soliciting feedback from students recently, BKV Group discovered that theaters had become gathering spaces beyond movie parties as kids used the room for gaming gatherings.
On the other end of the spectrum, architects are increasingly designing common spaces to promote more social and private moments without technology. “One goal with amenity spaces today is to reinforce community and help kids to make connections so that they can thrive socially as well as academically,” Naylor adds. “We’re trying to get away from the ‘together alone’ phenomenon where people may be hanging out together but are absorbed in their devices.”
Encouraging students to leave their smart phones behind dovetails with a growing awareness and commitment to promoting physical and mental health and wellness, an effort that has accelerated in the post-pandemic years. Fitness centers continue to be standard fare as part of that focus, but the theme has expanded to mimic hotel spa offerings such as saunas, hot tubs or cold plunge pools, as well as spaces with noise deadening enhancements to invite meditation, yoga and even massage therapy, designers say.
More broadly, wellness designs seek to create a connection to the outdoors by bringing more natural light into buildings and by outfitting courtyards and other outdoor spaces with hammocks, gym equipment, walking trails and even study areas, observers say. The wellness drive also includes eliminating any hint of an institutional feel at properties, largely by using wood and other natural materials where possible, Richards says.
“There is a lot of competition in student housing, and the question is always, ‘How can we stand out?’ she states. “Can we deliver great service, and can we bring in materials that make students feel more comfortable?”
Another benefit of that approach is that it helps anchor students back to the real world at a time when they are being bombarded by social media messages or images that aren’t real, Rhode adds. “Natural materials and design elements like plantings, landscaping and indoor plants that require sunlight can help do that,” he says. “The days of the institutional palette and tiny windows are gone.”
Authentic Awareness
Natural materials also provide projects with an air of authenticity, a trait that young people have begun embracing over the last few years, Cook says. As a result, they typically have a greater appreciation for vintage furniture and other items that were made with a higher standard of quality than what is produced today, she contends.
In large part, this recognition is due to the fact that students have access to myriad design examples via social media, Cook says, adding that her firm seeks to satisfy that preference for the authentic by providing custom furniture that’s built to spec for living units and incorporating the flavor of the surrounding geography and demography into the broader student housing interior design scheme.
Among other projects, Mary Cook Associates created an “All Pro Lounge” at The 87 Notre Dame because of the athletic heritage at the school. Decorations include a variety of sporting equipment from yesteryear, from boxing gloves to lacrosse sticks.
“Fifty years ago, the chances of a student at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln being exposed to high design were nil,” Cook adds. “But social media influencers today deliver a steady stream of new design ideas to kids — it’s everywhere.”
—Joe Gose
This article was originally published in the March/April issue of Student Housing Business magazine.