Faced with increasing competition for new students and a campus with aging dormitory buildings, SDSU required a feasibility study for upgrades and modernizations. CAW Architects was tasked with evaluating a total of 12 dormitory buildings to determine renovations needed to accommodate both program enhancements and required accessibility, seismic and code improvements. The study also included a complete inventory of existing conditions and anticipated usable life of equipment for recommended window replacement, paint, carpet, HVAC improvements, and lighting upgrades and retrofits.
Program spaces were identified through collaborative user workshops to enhance the daily student experience and provide internal program spaces for Residential Education programming; learning communities now have usable study and gathering spaces on each floor and throughout the public commons. Main floor programs accommodate indoor/outdoor student lounge and social spaces that tie housing sub-campuses together, and a need was identified for a stand-alone assembly pavilion to address the ever-growing need for student gathering and classroom spaces as well as public functions throughout the year. Strategies are identified to perform quick summer projects to minimize dormitory down time.
Site planning for each dormitory was developed both for the immediate area of the building and also in context with the overall housing areas and student pathways. Challenging topography was overcome in site planning to not only accommodate accessible path but also to provide outdoor niches and social spaces that fit within and enhance the public path.
