Urban Land, the official magazine of the Urban Land Institute (ULI), has published a new piece on leading student housing projects from across the globe that demonstrate how colleges and universities can provide high-quality housing that emphasizes engagement, mixed-use programming, sustainability, walkability and student success. The article touts the University of Utah’s Lassonde Studios as a paragon for successful student housing and a model for other institutions to follow.
The piece notes: “The University of Utah’s Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute serves as a hub for student entrepreneurs, providing workshops, events, competitions, and other programs open to students of all majors. In 2016, the university opened Lassonde Studios, a building consisting of four floors of student housing above a 20,000-square-foot (1,900 sq m) innovation center. Dubbed the Neeleman Hangar, this ground-floor space is open to all the university’s students 24 hours a day and provides 3-D printers, laser cutters, lounge space, a café, prototype rooms, and vending machines that dispense tools.
Any student at the university can apply to be one of the 400 residents of Lassonde Studios. The residential floors offer three types of housing: suites of single and double rooms; three- and four-bedroom lofts that share a kitchen; and suites of 20 small sleeping pods that share a kitchen. Each of these three options includes its own communal maker space and lounge area. Los Angeles–based Yazdani Studio of CannonDesign in association with local firm EDA Architects designed the facility.”