KieranTimberlake

North Campus Housing

North Campus Housing

University of Washington

Location & Size

Seattle, Washington

633,000 square feet

Year

2021

Project Info

New Build, Academic

Program & Research

Living, Landscape & Ecology

Nestled alongside the Kincaid Ravine, the McCarty Innovation Learning Lab (MILL) is a collaboration between Housing & Food Services and the College of Engineering to provide a makerspace within the student housing neighborhood. Without leaving the convenience of their residence, students can experiment and collaborate beyond the classroom with 3D printers, sewing machines, and other technology to foster creative exploration. | © Bruce Damonte

How can an underutilized, heavily sloped part of campus become a bustling student neighborhood fostering cross-disciplinary engagement?

The University of Washington’s LEED Gold-certified North Campus Housing neighborhood extends an historic campus fabric by weaving together four buildings and accompanying landscapes on a previously isolated and heavily sloped part of campus. The residences create a vibrant living-learning community for upwards of 2,000 students, fostering engagement and connection through dining, instruction, meeting, and recreation spaces.

Reflecting the Student Experience

The neighborhood bustles with an intramural field, various student lounges, a student information help center, learning resource and tutoring center, classrooms, 300-person conference and event space, and the McCarty Innovation Learning Lab (MILL). Nestled alongside the Kincaid Ravine, the MILL is a collaboration between Housing & Food Services and the College of Engineering to provide easy access to makerspace tools, encouraging impromptu creativity and exploration within the student housing community.

Modeling Vegetation

Modeling Vegetation

Custom computational analysis integrated hundreds of existing trees into massing studies, revealing how forest canopy would shape solar access and outdoor microclimates.

Modeling Vegetation

Modeling Vegetation

University of Washington’s North Campus site presented a unique challenge: a dramatically sloped, heavily forested landscape where hundreds of mature trees ranging from 40 to 80 feet tall would profoundly influence solar access and microclimate for new student housing. Traditional solar analysis considers only building massing, ignoring vegetation’s significant impact on thermal performance and outdoor comfort. To design responsibly on this forested site, the team needed to understand how existing trees would shape light, shadow, and solar exposure across proposed building schemes.

Tree survey data used as parameters for 3d model generation.

KieranTimberlake developed a custom computational workflow that integrated individual tree data into solar analysis. Using the university’s comprehensive tree survey—documenting location, species, diameter, and height for over 10,000 campus trees—the team created a database combining field data with species-specific characteristics including crown geometry, growth patterns, and critically, seasonal shading coefficients. Deciduous trees received different summer and winter values to account for leaf-on versus leaf-off conditions, while conifers and broadleaf evergreens maintained constant shading factors year-round.

3D site model with trees.

A parametric model generated representative tree geometries based on surveyed locations and species data, then combined these with proposed building massing and topography. Solar analysis ran seasonally across building facades, roofs, and critically, the courtyard spaces between towers where students would gather. The analysis revealed how forest canopy patterns would create specific microclimatic conditions throughout the year, informing decisions about building orientation, courtyard design, and which existing trees might be removed during construction.

Direct and diffuse solar radiation by season.

By quantifying vegetation’s contribution to shading—studies suggest shade trees can reduce cooling loads by up to 30%—the research enabled design decisions that leveraged rather than ignored the site’s rich natural context, supporting the neighborhood’s goal of embracing mature Pacific Northwest landscapes while creating vibrant outdoor spaces for 2,000 students.

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Sustainable and Accessible

The core of North Campus is assembled in a pinwheel formation around the Town Square at its center, with a meandering mid-slope path worked into the hillside to achieve full accessibility while maximizing engagement of the space, both built and natural. Situated on a natural plateau that frames the east ridge along a dramatically sloping part of campus, the residences prioritize green space by reducing impacts on the landscape and maximizing solar orientation where possible.

The neighborhood extends an historic campus fabric by weaving together four buildings and accompanying landscapes on a previously isolated part of campus. | © Bruce Damonte

Residences create a vibrant living-learning community for upwards of 2,000 students, fostering engagement and connection through dining, instruction, meeting, and recreation spaces. | © Bruce Damonte

Situated on a natural plateau along a dramatically sloping site, the neighborhood prioritizes green space by reducing impacts on the landscape and maximizing solar orientation where possible. A mid-slope path made a challenging topography readily accessible to all. | © Bruce Damonte

Outside the Learning Resource Center on Madrona Hall’s ground level, students take advantage of built-in benches and a deep canopy for outdoor socializing. With a depth of 17-feet, the canopy provides shade for the full height glass windows, shielding from solar heat gain | © Bruce Damonte

With McCarty Hall at left and Madrona Hall at center, the buildings make use of stacked and aggregated floor lounges showcased in “lanterns,” breaking down the scale and providing a glimpse into active student life. The edges of the master plan, as seen here, embrace mature campus landscapes and highlight the rich natural environment of the Pacific Northwest. © Bruce Damonte

A 5,000 SF green roof and dining terrace covers a significant portion of Willow Hall’s dining area, creating habitat and contributing to overall storm water strategy. A variety of non-infiltrating bio-retention elements are integrated into the overall site and buildings, significantly delaying the rate of runoff. | © Bruce Damonte

The McCarty Hall community lounge serves as a living room for all students in the building. The double height space creates a sense of openness while providing shared student space, meeting rooms, and a group kitchen. | © Bruce Damonte

The design process entailed a deep study of wood weathering patterns and drivers, and rainscreen detailing was guided by anticipation of that—acknowledging that the western red cedar is a natural material and to best set up long-term success both in terms of aesthetics and limited maintenance. | © Bruce Damonte

The western red cedar rainscreens complement the surrounding environment and mature trees. The cedar slats are organized vertically over metal battens to create performative rainscreen facades and a woven visual effect, with loose inspiration drawn from the rich history of basket-weaving traditions of the Pacific Northwest. Like the act of basket-weaving, the facades organically achieve ornament through the process of making, structure, and assembly.

Awards

AIA Housing Award
AIA Pennsylvania COTE Award
AIA Philadelphia Sustainability Honor Award
AIA Seattle Award of Merit
AIA Tri-State Honor Award

AIA Washington Council Honor Award
Architect’s Newspaper Best of Design Awards
Chicago Athenaeum American Architecture Awards Honorable Mention
SCUP Merit Award

North Campus Housing