Commercial Architecture June 2017 - 18

FEATURE

campus design
the facility." The dining complex has three levels, including a lower service level, main

Project Team
*

Architect of record: Stevens & Wilkinson, Columbia, SC (stevens-wilkinson.com)

Civil, structural, mechanical, and electrical engineers:
Stevens & Wilkinson, Columbia SC

dining level, and a relaxed dining mezzanine, all of which are connected by a centrally
located main circulation core.
Access was designed using control access points. Entries to the retail establishments
were directed from the exterior and connect to common spaces. An after-hours connection between the residential and retail dining areas allows openings between these zones
to facilitate expanded seating capacities and potential access to the mezzanine area.
In the main dining retail area, there is a two-story-height space in which the project
team specified extensive amounts of glass. This space now interconnects a plaza, court-

Housing design: VMDO Architects, Charlottesville, VA

Dining-hall design: Sasaki Associates, Watertown, MA

Construction observation: RMS Architecture, Clemson, SC

Food-service consultant: Ricca Design Studios, Greenwood Village, CO

ic design, a series of planning sessions led by Stevens & Wilkinson resulted in an arrange-

Fire-protection consultant: Cromer Engineering, Greenville, SC

ment strategy for the dining mezzanine. The new dining gallery was conceptualized to

Lighting, audio visual, and acoustical consultant: Newcomb & Boyd, Atlanta

overlook an eastern-positioned retail dining space and the two-story, main dining space.

LEED Consultant: Merrick & Co., Greenwood Village, CO

Furniture providers: Young Office Environments Inc,
Greenville, SC; Miller's Inc., Columbia, SC.

yards, and interior spaces. Visual relationships with the adjacent pedestrian pathway are
afforded from these spaces.
Maximizing the original theme of student-centered experiences that underpin aesthet-

Three sloped-roof sections use clerestories, which run the width of the building, to
pour natural light into the dining spaces. The appeal is that of a dramatic space with the
visual connectivity of the dining areas.
From an interior-design standpoint, polished concrete floors unify the dining areas.
The mezzanine space is carpeted to provide a more comfortable feeling and relate to the
change in seating types.
"To address both functional and visual parameters, wall materials were varied," said
Gressette. "White horizontal, large-format ceramic tile and charcoal-gray hexagonal ceramic tile were utilized in the food-production and beverage-station areas. Serving lines
were faced with earth-toned wood laminates to relate to wood laminate planks on
high-traffic wall surfaces."
Textured wall coverings were chosen to accent recessed dining niches and seating walls.
Slate walls repeat, and fixed and operable wood screens provide physical separation, visual
connection, and security. Single-story dining is topped with cloud ceilings of perforated
metal material, and the two-story dining spaces have ceilings of linear metal with a wood
pattern to provide a sense of warmth.
COMFORT AND EFFICACY

With an emphasis on the fact that comfort is paramount to students' educational successes and is a chief factor in student retention, the Stevens & Wilkinson project team
designed the new core-campus housing with numerous residential unit types and community options.
Furthering Clemson Univ.'s plan for on-campus retention, two seven-story residence
halls of 244 and 178 beds now comprise the Calhoun Honors College at the north end of
the site, with academic assembly and administrative space on the first floor arranged
around a raised courtyard. Common lounges connected by open stairs enhance the idea
of community in close proximity to student accommodations of double and single semisuites with semi-private baths.
To the south, a 265-bed residence hall has double-occupancy rooms with common
private baths in "wet cores." The housing design aids the college in its student recruitment
for a National Scholars Program and the continued retention of students living on campus
following their first year.
Circulation patterns, proximity of spaces, and flexible amenities were elements of design driven by the shift in how students live on today's campuses. For the project team,
practical livability of the space and the day-to-day culture of the on-campus student body
were translated into the design of the new residences.
New common lounges were designed as one portion of extensive core-campus housing and dining precinct
improvements at Clemson Univ., with comfortable seating, television sets, contemporary lighting, and open
spaces to enhance the idea of community engagement.

VERNACULAR BALANCE

Exterior material selections were chosen to complement existing architecture and delineate the various components contained within the core-campus facility. Two tones of brick
were selected, with punched windows for the residential units. Full-height glass windows

COMMERCI A L A RCHI T EC T URE

JUNE 2017

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Commercial Architecture June 2017