Plymouth State University

Plymouth State University’s new LEED Gold certified, 347-bed, 114,000 gsf Langdon Woods Residence Hall is designed in organic relationship with site topography and surrounding woodlands and wetlands. The volumes of the two buildings – a 218-bed sophomore building and 129-bed upperclass building – are positioned to conform both to the slope of the 9-acre site and to the path of the sun, maximizing daylighting to all living spaces.

Building heights are kept low to maintain site conditions and views. Together the buildings border an elliptical common space with a view of an adjacent stream. Building facades embody both stimulation and stasis, with syncopated arrangements of operable and fixed windows interspersed with infill panels in inset linear strips vitalizing the building envelope. Irregularly angled mullion grids in curtainwall areas form jagged networks evocative of a wooded landscape. These dynamic gestures fall against a backdrop of massing and materials that conform to the university’s existing palette of traditional brick and limestone.