College Houses

Austin, Texas

College Houses is a large, student-owned and operated, residential cooperative near the University of Texas at Austin. Three different cooperatives share the building's 180 student residences, 80-car garage, and two commercial kitchens and dining areas.

By creating designated spaces for each house, organized around shared outdoor spaces, College Houses preserved the unique mission, identity and community of the existing houses while creating efficiencies that allowed them to reduce operating costs.

Two levels and one commercial dining area are allocated to an existing women-only house, which required secure separation from the rest of the residents. A single level of apartments is designated for a graduate student house. The last two levels serve a co-ed undergraduate house with a commercial kitchen.

Listening to the residents’ and organizations’ needs and concerns was foundational to the project’s success. Coming to understand the communities’ differences and commonalities informed the design solution - making houses for each of the groups with interconnecting exterior stairs, individual common spaces, large exterior common space for each house with openings to view of the city which also allowed airflow and light into the 5th level “ground floor” of the co-op, where the entire co-op can gather, watch outdoor movies, play sports and hang out.

Services

Architecture