What’s new in student housing?
Universities are using this time during the financial crisis to get additional housing built, which means they can increase their intake and increase their fee-paying students.
Is student housing changing?
Student housing is an evolution in line with demand and demographics. Cultural expectations change, as does the social mix. A lot of student housing is targeted at interstate or international students, so therefore we need to really consider how that social mix will work in our designs. For example, there’s quite a big demand for studio student housing, with a kitchenette, bathroom, study area, where there are also common amenities within the wider area. You have to design in a way that encourages a good social mix.
We no longer build three-bedroom accommodation for students. We’ve had feedback that says it encourages division. It’s a bit strange but that’s how it seems to work.
How do you cope with the economies of scale?
Everything has to be tightened down. It’s not about how much floor area you have, it’s how you use that space cleverly. The furniture and the rooms have been designed to integrate with each other.
The studios are just under 18m2, which is quite tight when you have a kitchen, bathroom, bedroom and study in there. In these apartments, we use pre-fab bathrooms made from fiberglass so that they come to site ready and all you have to do is connect up the pipe work.
It’s a product that is based on the knowledge information that people like Uni Lodge, who are the operators of the ANU project, and ANU themselves. They get feedback all the time from students about what works and the sensitivities of student living.
What is the buzzword in student housing now?
Efficiency is key. Planning efficiency, which in turn relates to cost efficiency, and then social efficiency, because these kids want to be near their campus and they want to be able to access other amenities from their home.
What about sustainable design?
We’ve put in a design for another institution that relies on passive systems such as cross ventilation, which is very unusual in a small, studio single aspect apartment. We’ve integrated louvres and grilles into the façade and then within the ceiling to ventilated corridors, so the corridors act as the main ventilated area.
