Tulane University Residence Halls - River Hall & Lake Hall

The project is organized around two adjacent wings, which will serve as separate functioning residence halls, but connected via a raised courtyard space on the second floor, intended for socialization and casual student recreation. In this same vein, rather than disperse smaller student lounges across floors, each wing is designed around several large, double-height lounges.

The glazed, ground-floor public spaces lend a sense of openness and transparency to the project, while on the upper floors, the façade features a modern reinterpretation of Tulane’s longstanding tradition of red-brick dormitories. Each wing maintains a carefully orchestrated brick pattern and texture, providing a unique identify for each within a holistic campus aesthetic. Capturing this social energy of change, of transition, while still providing a spiritual center for students is the underlying crux of the project.

Interiors within take cues from the ephemeral nature of student life, celebrating this notion directly through a well-understood corollary—the seasons of spring and fall. The two seasons are utilized throughout as interpretive vehicles to shape the interiors. Spring features warm, clear coated oak detailing and Fall a darker walnut. In Spring, lighter colors take precedence in comparison to the rich, autumnal hues of Fall. Furniture selections extend this metaphor, with the Spring dormitories maintaining thin, airy pieces, with white-backed seating, and Fall featuring overstuffed sofas, heavier sculptural tables, knit textures, and touches of brass elements.