Arthi Krishnamoorthy of TenBerke | The Princeton Residential Colleges in Princeton | Dormitories, Then and Now
Courtesy of TenBerke
Dormitories, Then and Now
Dorm life is a quintessential part of the American university experience, but that wasn’t always the case. In this episode, I outline the history of dormitories and share an edited version of my conversation with Arthi Krishnamoorthy, Senior Principal at TenBerke, to discuss the firm’s residential college project on the Princeton campus.
After three years of attending Zoom school, college students are setting records for on-campus housing demand. Mixed with the ever-rising rent prices in college towns, many universities are reimagining the traditional dorm model to accommodate the crowds.
Arthi is working closely with the stakeholders at Princeton to ensure the new multi-building dormitory complex enhances student well-being, integrates living environments, and fosters a sense of community and responsibility.
Located strategically on the edge of campus in a woodland area, the two new residential colleges consist of eight new buildings that house approximately 1,000 students. Each building features a transparent base that encourages community involvement through visibility and encompasses a contemporary style to the rest of the campus.
Princeton's ten-year plan aims to significantly increase the undergraduate student population as well as their living and dining hall options on campus. Arthi explains how symbolic and detailed architecture ensures that students will be overcome with a sense of discovery and community through this new endeavor.
Note: New College East has since been renamed Yeh College since this episode was originally recorded.
“How do you design residential colleges to welcome and accommodate the experience of all students, to design it in a way that you never leave, or students saying or feeling, ‘I’m here, but this is somebody else’s Princeton’? But instead, this place says that it was designed for me, that it’s my Princeton as well. I think you and I, and perhaps many of the listeners, have had experiences where you don’t feel welcome. You feel like an outsider, you don’t feel like you belong. So to me, and to our firm, this is very important to think through this and really try to deliver on it.”
Courtesy of TenBerke
About Arthi Krishnamoorthy
Arthi Krishnamoorthy is a Senior Principal at TenBerke, which is the new name of Deborah Berke Partners, the NYC-based design firm. Prior to Deborah Berke Partners, she worked at and started her career at Pelli Clarke & Partners. Arthi is a graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign and the University of Pennsylvania.
Courtesy of TenBerke
Courtesy of TenBerke
Episode Timestamps
6:01 – How would you compare the experiences that you've had at the different firms you’ve worked at over your career?
14:43 – Who has played a role in your growth as a designer?
20:09 – Let our listeners understand what is so particularly unique and special about Princeton and the site that you have had the opportunity to design.
22:36 – Could you explain what that system is for undergraduates and also compare what that system is for graduates?
27:45 – What was the project brief that the university gave you at the outset? And then how did you go about preparing the design response?
33:50 – Could you talk to us about the visible materials that someone would be looking at, feeling or touching as they're walking through these new buildings?
38:10 – So a key feature of the ten-year plan is the growth of the student body at Princeton. Talk to us more about who goes to Princeton now and what will be going in the future.
41:47 – How can the design of a building help accommodate and make the transition easier for students, particularly international ones?
44:05 – Could you talk about the other folks that are part of this design process and how their work and their selections played a part in the larger design?
47:00 – Where do you place this project in the larger portfolio of work that you've done?
Additional Resources
Connect with Arthi Krishnamoorthy:
Courtesy of TenBerke
About your host:
Atif Qadir is the Founder & CEO of Commonplace, a technology company making it easy for commercial real estate professionals to find and use the $100B of real estate incentives given out every year in the US.
His work has been covered by Technology Review, The Real Deal, Commercial Observer, and Propmodo. He’s also a frequent speaker on the future of buildings and cities on popular industry podcasts and at conferences, including this past year at the Commercial Observer National DEI Conference, Yale AREA Conference, Columbia Real Estate Symposium, Open Data Week NYC and Austin Design Week.
About Commonplace
Commonplace is a founding sponsor of American Building. It is a 100% minority-owned, real estate technology company founded in 2020 to make financing social impact development projects across the US easier. It is funded by venture capital investors Hometeam Ventures, Park West Asset Management, New York Ventures and Shadow Ventures.
About Michael Graves
The world-famous design firm Michael Graves is also a founding sponsor of American Building. Its namesake, the iconoclastic designer Michael Graves, FAIA was a fierce advocate for people-centric design. His work defines a generation of American architecture and includes the Portland Building, the Humana Building and the Denver Public Library. The 1st season of American Building was filmed live at The Warehouse, his historic home in Princeton, New Jersey:
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