Princeton University Lakeside Graduate Housing

Project Details

Project Description

Studio Ma has completed construction for a major graduate student housing community for Princeton University. Princeton’s Lakeside Graduate Student Community provides 715 beds in an assortment of town home and mid-rise apartments, commons facilities and a wrapped parking structure on a 20-acre site on the main campus. The project is designed to foster a cohesive campus graduate student community. Lakeside extends Princeton's campus fabric, anticipating its future growth and expansion across Lake Carnegie. The planning of Lakeside was driven by the need for Princeton to connect their growing graduate student population to campus by making an authentic community. Studio Ma worked with American Campus Communities to host a series of Focus Groups with students, administrators and housing staff to study and understand the diverse demographic make up of the graduate student population. This research drove the design of all aspects of the new student community, from site planning to building program, unit types and amenities. The program for the project was developed through extensive research of Princeton’s graduate community, the primary users of the facility. Surveys and focus groups found that the community was made up of a range of groups, each with their own living needs and preferences. It was also found that the community changed over time, with the younger students expressing a strong preference for a relatively-low cost, communal option offered by larger two and three bedroom units. Town home and mid-rise building typologies provide additional lifestyle options for the community while enhancing the human scale of the building in the landscape.