Talking Stick - May/June 2014 - 40

Baylor University:
East Village Residential
Commons
Population: 700
Cost: $70 million
Partners: Hanbury Evans Wright
Vlattas + Company; Overland
Partners Architects; The Beck Group
Design Highlight: The design
purposely honors Baylor's Christian
heritage by including inspirational
quotations selected by students and
faculty. Prominent windows feature a
cross form in the framing, and every
seventh course of brick on the hall's
front surface is recessed.
"The 21st Century Project hall
supports our campus mission
by . . . educating our students for
worldwide leadership and service
by integrating academic excellence
and Christian commitment in a
caring community. The academic and
spiritual components of East Village
are rarely paralleled in the landscape
of American higher education."

specific campus. The possibilities
were vast.

The East Village Residential Commons is tangible evidence of Baylor University's desire to
transition to a more residential campus. Adding new beds in a variety of room styles, planned
common areas, and a dining facility enabled increased connections beyond the classroom.

The project's next steps were
to turn this information over to
professional and student architects
to inspire their creative energies.
The results became entries in two
separate 21st Century Project design
competitions. The first event asked
participants to design the individual
student room, or The Home, as
it came to be called. The second
competition expanded upon these
ideas to create designs for an entire
hall. Audiences were wowed by how
designers utilized features such
as sliding walls, integrated display
screens, stowable furniture, and green
energy sources.
Considering the residence hall in
terms of separate components, as
though it were a Russian nesting doll,
40

became an integral aspect of the 21st
Century Project. At the center was The
Home where, generally, one or two
students lived. Wrapped around that
was The Block, a collection of homes
that might hold between 20 and 50
people. The next level was called The
Neighborhood, which was generally
one building made up of several
blocks and totaling optimally 150 to
200 people (though acknowledging
that, depending on the campus
population, it may need to house
substantially more). Finally there was
The Village. This was an arrangement
of neighborhoods, likely arranged
around some central hub such as a
dining hall, student union, recreation
center, or the like.
What was important about
these considerations was that each
level produced unique challenges

Talking STick

in terms of student interaction,
community identity, fiscal concerns,
design protocols, and construction
requirements. As a result, campuses
were to explore solutions related to
community, flexibility, technology,
sustainability, and innovation at each
of these levels.
At the conclusion of the design
competitions, in 2008 a call was
issued for campuses that would create,
in essence, a prototype 21st Century
Project residence hall. The chosen
campuses committed to host their
own summit with assistance from the
planning committee to clarify the needs
of the students on that campus, explore
the campus community experience,
define the residential life experience,
and specify physical features.
Based on their identified need
to expand their housing capacity, a

Talking Stick - May/June 2014

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