Cambridge, MA and Rochester, NY —ARC/Architectural Resources Cambridge and SWA Group recently announced that they have completed a new mixed use residential complex for Rochester Institute of Technology.
The 189,000 SF project includes a student housing component with 414 beds, 20,000 SF of retail space and 12,000 SF of space for academic related services at its campus in Rochester, NY. The new residential buildings, which are known as the Global Village Community, consist of apartment and suite style housing and replace the Riverknoll apartments at the West edge of the campus.
As part of the campus outreach to other countries, Global Village houses both students from other countries as well as those who will participate in Co-op programs in countries such as the UAE, Kosovo, and Croatia. Foreign students are provided with a variety of amenities to help them feel at home while students slated for future studies abroad, have access to people and information that will help them make the adjustment to living in other countries and experiencing other cultures.
Supporting RIT’s initiative to create state-of-the-art housing, dining and lifestyle options, Global Village features a variety of student amenities including a restaurant, convenience store, copy center, mail/package facilities and a fitness center. The multiple building complex is organized around a central plaza, designed to provide a space to promote outdoor activity and foster social interaction. The complex also houses academic program spaces focused on multi-cultural programs and RIT’s study abroad group. Additionally the academic space includes an Entrepreneurial Center and a Prototype Lab space.
The exterior site development is particularly exciting and represents an on-going effort on the RIT campus to explore the potential of the outdoors for year round student activity. Working with ARC, SWA developed an outdoor plaza that includes casual and formal outdoor restaurant and café seating for over 200 people, an outdoor living room/lounge with a fire pit and small performance area, and a south sun-facing lawn “beach” for a range of seating and socializing options. During the winter, the outdoor lounge transforms into a small skating rink. The addition of a “green roof” above the ground level restaurant provides attractive views from rooms above as well as increased habitat and improved stormwater quality. The project’s layout is also planned to accommodate significant additional residential expansion in this attractive, walkable environment close to the academic core.
“We’re very pleased to have worked with RIT on this unique project that combines residential needs with a global initiative,” said Robert H. Quigley, AIA, a principal at ARC/Architectural Resources Cambridge. “Global Village adds much needed housing for the university and serves as a new cultural center for students and faculty.” Marco Esposito, a principal at SWA, added that the project “shows that an exciting, sophisticated street scene and residential neighborhood can be created on a prestigious campus that hasn’t historically had this nearby.”
The grand opening for Global Village is scheduled for September 30, 2010.