Adohi Hall, a live-learn community for 700 students
Leers Weinzapfel Associates
Housing
/
Completed
Adohi Hall is a live-learn community for 700 students at the University of Arkansas, and the nation’s first large-scale mass timber building. Created by a design collective led by Leers Weinzapfel Associates (Boston, MA) in collaboration with Modus Studio (Fayetteville, AR), Mackey Mitchell Architects (St. Louis MO), and Olin Partnership (Philadelphia PA), this initiative is groundbreaking for the University and the State at large. A bold demonstration of sustainability, it also signifies potential economic development for Arkansas’ burgeoning timber industry. The complex demonstrates a pioneering use of cross-laminated timber (CLT) and an innovative approach to live-learn communities, with embedded arts and academic spaces fostering student collaboration and interactive learning.
While the historic core of the University of Arkansas campus is located atop Fayetteville’s McIlroy Hill, the site for the new residence hall is remote from the center at the foot of the hill in the Athletic Valley. Located at the southern end of campus, the four- acre site slopes from north to south and frames a new gateway to the campus.
Adohi Hall meets the challenge of creating a destination for a large new student community removed from the center of the campus. Conceived as a “cabin in the woods,” Adohi is a serpentine band of rooms framed in CLT clad in a light metal jacket of zinc-toned siding floating above landscaped courtyards evoking the ecology of Northwest Arkansas. A continuous path descends the length of the site, passing under the student rooms through a natural landscape of trees, lawns, terraces, and sitting steps.
Art- focused spaces on the ground level provide opportunities for student creativity. A stepped performance space, sound studios, practice rooms, and a dance studio flow into workshops for digital fabrication, and woodworking. Social life is concentrated in the Cabin with its large gathering space framed in timber trusses. Wood tables are made on campus from CLT packing crates
An emphasis on access to nature resonates throughout the project. The landscape and buildings are woven together as an extension of the forested hillside to create unique outdoor spaces with strong relationships to the spaces within. A stand of existing mature trees is the centerpiece of the northernmost courtyard; at mid-slope, a lively terrace marks the heart of the community; and in the lower courtyard, sitting steps follow the building down the hill to a sheltered lawn. Along the passage, common spaces are closely linked to the landscape. The “front porch” in the northernmost building functions is the key point of entry for the entire complex; the “cabin” at the midpoint of the passage is the main gathering space, comprising a community kitchen, lounges, a quiet hearth, and a rooftop terrace; and the “workshops” of the lower courtyard house a dynamic live/learn program of performance spaces, music and recording studios, and maker spaces that enhance the campus wide program for the arts.
The warmth of the project’s exposed structural wood ceilings are apparent in each student room, the study rooms, floor lounges, and ground floor common spaces, and wood columns bring the beauty of the material within reach for all. The “cabin” also includes a wood ceiling and trusses that span the full width of the lounge spaces. Native cypress forms exterior soffits, entryways, and interior walls. The name of the new complex – “Adohi,” Cherokee for “ woods” – recognizes the enduring importance of wood and sustainable forestry to the region.
/32
Adohi Hall with Pomfret Hall to Right and Arena Behind
Tim Hursley Photography
Student Activity is Highlighted by the Illuminating Glow of Adohi Hall’s Mass Timber Framework
Tim Hursley Photography
Adohi Hall Marks Southern Entry to Campus
Tim Hursley Photography
A forest of skewed columns supports Adohi’s two bridges, clad in local Arkansas cypress, which span over a winding pedestrian passage below.
Tim Hursley Photography
Main Lobby Space For Student Gathering
Tim Hursley Photography
View of Cabin from Middle Courtyard
Tim Hursley Photography
Cabin Main Lounge with Hearth Room beyond
Tim Hursley Photography
Performance Spaces Follow Slope and Exterior Steps
Tim Hursley Photography
View from South Courtyard with Stone Steps and Bridge
Tim Hursley Photography
Workshops with Roll-up Doors
Tim Hursley Photography
View of Dorm Room
Tim Hursley Photography
Quiet Wood Ceilinged Study Room at End of Each Wing
Tim Hursley Photography
Site Concept
Leers Weinzapfel Associates
Campus Concept
Leers Weinzapfel Associates
Campus Aerial/Site Location
Leers Weinzapfel Associates
Ground Floor Plan
Leers Weinzapfel Associates
Upper Level Plan
Leers Weinzapfel Associates
North South Section - Landscape Path Under Bridge
Leers Weinzapfel Associates
Typical Elevation with Open Study Rooms at Ends of Wings
Leers Weinzapfel Associates
Basis of Design Axon - Structure Comparison
Leers Weinzapfel Associates
Timber Axon
Leers Weinzapfel Associates
Basis of Design Plan
Leers Weinzapfel Associates
Elevations Studies, Regular Windows, Profiled Metal Siding, Metal Accents Panels
Leers Weinzapfel Associates
Building Phase, Ground Floor
Leers Weinzapfel Associates, OLIN, Modus Studio, Mackey Mitchel
Building Phase, Beams
Leers Weinzapfel Associates, OLIN, Modus Studio, Mackey Mitchel
Building Phase, Beams and CLT Panels
Leers Weinzapfel Associates, OLIN, Modus Studio, Mackey Mitchel
Finalized Building Rendering
Leers Weinzapfel Associates, OLIN, Modus Studio, Mackey Mitchel
View from Pomfret to First Courtyard Rendering
Leers Weinzapfel Associates
Aerial Construction of Building
Leers Weinzapfel Associates
North Wing Framed, Middle Wing Partially Sheathed, South Wing Clad
Fayetteville, AR
USA
University of Arkansas
08/2019
202027 sq. m
Leers Weinzapfel Associates, Modus Studio, Mackey Mitchell Architects, OLIN
Andrea Leers, Tom Chung, Ashley Rao, Chris Baribeau, Leanne Baribeau, John Burse, Merrilee Hertlein, Kyle Wagner, SKip Graffam, William Belcher
Nabholz
Bernhard Tme, Viridian, Faithful + Gould, DCI, OLIN Studio, Equlibrium, ECI
Holzpak, Morin, Glen Gery, Roxul, Firestone, Kawneer, Traco, Omni Ecosystems, Bison Innovative Products, Hanover, Black Locust USA, EuroCobble, Quarra Stone, Ben moore Arborcoat, Sherman Williams, J & J Flooring, Arist Lizzy Lee, Type IIIB Mass Timber Construction
Tim Hursley
Curriculum
Leers Weinzapfel Associates is a practice recognized for its exceptional quality of design for the public realm in urban and campus contexts. The group’s special strength is a “mission impossible” ability to meet extraordinarily difficult building challenges with uncommon design clarity, elegance, and refinement. We are committed to providing meaningful spaces for human interaction and to promoting social well-being. Our work is diverse, including technically demanding infrastructure installations, advanced learning and living environments for educational institutions, to civic buildings and community recreation centers. In 2007, the American Institute of Architects honored us with the Firm Award, the highest distinction the AIA bestows on an architecture practice, the first and only woman-owned firm to be so honored. ARCHITECT Magazine has included the firm on its list of Top 50 architecture firms in the country, for the past five years in a row.