Case Studies in New Classical & Traditional Design: Living on Campus: Student Housing Models

with Melissa DelVecchio

This seminar series explores the design and execution of new work from the practitioner’s perspective. Contemporary classical and traditional design encompasses architectural work for all building types, at all scales and budgets, and in the allied fields of urban planning, landscape, interiors and the artisan and building trades. The series aims to explore solutions to contemporary design challenges, foster critical discussion of recent work, and demystify the complexities of how unique projects come together.

In this session of the project forum series, Melissa DelVecchio, partner at Robert A.M. Stern Architects, leads an in-depth discussion on the topic of student housing models. Living on campus is central to the U.S. college experience, but student housing poses a big challenge as schools work to make their campuses safe for students to return this fall. Melissa will present recent student housing models such as shared suites designed for the new residential colleges at Yale University; single bedrooms with shared social spaces designed for a living-learning college at Tsinghua University; and micro apartment studies prepared for an unbuilt university housing project in Florida. The presentation will be followed by a conversation about the student housing models we might see in the future, particularly in response to COVID-19.

About the Instructor

Melissa DelVecchio is a partner at Robert A.M. Stern Architects. She is the design lead for many of the firm’s most complex academic and institutional projects, and directs the Research Department. Building upon her education that included an intensive study of classical architecture and a subsequent immersion into contemporary design, her work synthesizes tradition and invention, reinforcing the many visual, social, environmental, and cultural influences that give places identity and meaning. Melissa’s projects include two new residential colleges at Yale University and the first LEED Gold-certified academic building in China. She is currently working on the restoration and adaptive reuse of the Schwarzman Center at Yale, a historic Carrère & Hastings’ building that will be transformed into a social hub for the university’s students; and the Raclin Murphy Museum of Art, the anchor for the University of Notre Dame’s new arts district.

Melissa is a fellow of the American Institute of Architects and a member of the Richard H. Driehaus Prize jury, the Rafael Manzano Martos Prize jury, and the RAMSA Travel Fellowship jury. In Spring 2021, she will serve as the Robert A.M. Stern Visiting Professor of Classical Architecture at the Yale School of Architecture.

What You Will Learn

• To demonstrate how contemporary student housing design can benefit from a deeper understanding of historical precedent.
• To highlight various student housing design models from the early-twentieth century to the present, with a careful study of private versus shared social spaces.
• To examine key issues regarding student housing and the current pandemic.
• To discuss potential student housing models after COVID-19.

2020 Summer Studio Retrospective

This course is presented as part of the 2020 Summer Studio Retrospective, a four-week series of daily online content inspired by the ICAA's Summer Studio in Classical Architecture program and the many students who have been impacted through its unique course of study. You can find additional programs in this series here.

Tags: education, video, Summer Studio Retrospective, video course, recorded event