To enhance its students’ undergraduate academic experience, Vanderbilt University made a commitment to develop a system of residential colleges to house its 5,200 undergraduate students who were housed in multiple locations across the campus. The Vanderbilt University Residential College Master Plan proposed the creation of nine residential colleges on the Main Campus. The colleges serve to break down the size of the student body into smaller, more comfortable groups that share a university ‘home’.
Each residential college of approximately 350 students will have a unique architectural identity, house faculty advisors, graduate students and share a common dining room, study lounges, social spaces and outdoor spaces. The University commissioned David M. Schwarz Architects to review their campus’ existing residential facilities and create a Master Plan that developed the residential colleges in phases to replace existing dormitories. The Master Plan’s first phase proposed the construction of 850 new beds on the historic Peabody campus, which when added to the 750 existing beds, will house the entire freshmen class, currently housed in multiple locations across the campus.
