In an effort to provide increased opportunities for on-campus housing for their existing student body and to improve campus presence along Lancaster Avenue, Villanova University initiated the transformation of a large surface parking lot into a student housing and performing arts complex. With a design approach dubbed “Villanova Gothic” that extends the campus aesthetic, 400,000 sf of new housing, amenities, and ground-floor retail space are knit together by a series of courtyards, arcades, and cloisters. Six distinct but interconnected buildings hold over 1,100 beds in a variety of configurations: singles, doubles, suites, and apartments. Shared amenities like social lounges and study areas, many situated around large arched windows, help draw students out of their rooms.

The LEED Silver certified project incorporates sustainable elements like a stormwater management system that has become a hands-on learning tool for environmental studies students. A recently-completed pedestrian bridge across Lancaster Avenue will connect the new complex to the rest of campus. Villanova will now be able to provide on-campus housing for 85% of its students, thereby enhancing the ethos of the campus community and reducing traffic to and from campus.

Architect of record in association with Robert A.M. Stern Architects. Landscape completed in association with Sikora Wells Appel.

Awards

LEED Silver Certified

PUBLICATIONS

• "Unity at Villanova" by Kiley Jacques. Traditional Building Magazine, October 2021.
• "More Than Eight Years in the Making" by Susan Snyder. The Philadelphia Inquirer, 17 August, 2019.
• "Built to Last" by Colleen Donnelly. Villanova Magazine, Spring 2019.
• "Villanova Expanding" by Natalie Kostelni. Philadelphia Business Journal, 27 January 2012.