New Upper-Division Housing

In February 2014, the Board of Trustees voted unanimously to require all students to reside on campus through the junior year. The policy is intended to preserve and enhance the close-knit, residential character of the University, while ensuring that students have access to quality housing. To accommodate the increased number of on-campus residents, two groupings of townhouses and apartments housing up to 350 upper‐division students will be built on the site of existing athletic practice fields.

The first grouping, called the Village Square, will be located next to the new natatorium. In it, seven buildings will line a meandering pedestrian street. Each apartment will have either a porch or a balcony facing the square, affording outdoor living space. Two additional buildings will feature common rooms on the ground level with apartments above. Bicycles provided by the university's free "Blue Bike" program will allow for easy travel to classes or student activities in the core campus. There also will be an open-air pavilion for outdoor dining or small events.

In the second grouping, dubbed the Village Commons, five apartment buildings and five townhouse buildings will frame a more expansive green, with room for volleyball and informal games. The apartment‐style buildings might have a brick finish to vary the scale and character of the two neighborhoods. Accommodations for students with disabilities have been made in each housing cluster.

Existing parking area near the Tennis Center will be expanded to the west to accommodate residents' cars. Through a combination of new spaces and reassignment of existing lots, at least one parking space will be available for every student close to the new housing. There is a deliberate planning strategy to locate parking in locations that are not only safe and convenient for occasional use, but also are inconvenient enough to discourage the daily use of cars when walking is possible.