ACUHO-I News Blog

Thanks to this economic slump (to put it mildly), construction of new buildings has slowed, after nearly stopping for a period. Thus, we haven’t had much about construction on here in a while. But we will surely build again, so it’s a good time to think about the topic in the abstract.

Here’s an essay considering if it’s absolutely essential to have all the buildings on a campus match each other. This is a long-running debate. There’s problems with doggedly following a single style and equal issues with allowing a sort of architectural anarchy to take over. The happy medium, however, is difficult to achieve, especially when time, money, expertise and hindsight are limited.

What’s your campus policy on architecture? Did anyone from housing have input on it? How has this impacted your buildings?

We’ve all heard of green roofs. Well, a new photo feature by National Geographic magazine takes a look at exactly how much room for growth (pun fully intended) there is in this practice. These sprawling images show buildings like Chicago’s City Hall or the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo that are oases in their urban deserts as well as more rural scenes in Switzerland and Germany.

Check out the full photo gallery and then use the comment section to discuss if you’ve implemented green roofs on any of your campus buildings.

The folks at Unviersity Business decided that if ACUHO-I can have themselves a residence hall competition, they can too, and they’ll use the dreaded “D-word” while doing it.

“Dorms of Distinction” highlights residences with choicey amenities; innovative designs and aesthetically pleasing details. If you need inspiration, this list is a good start. The evaluation team noted the distinctive halls often had several things in common:

Student input heavily informed much of the design, furnishings and amenities of many of the halls. The buildings have a homey feel; many feature furnishings similar to those in private homes; many have private bedrooms and smaller bathrooms that look more like those in houses. Finally, most of the halls have plenty of comfortable and inviting common areas, where residents can gather.

If you’re building, consider hosting one of the 21st Century Project prototype halls.