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Carnegie Mellon University
Forbes and Beeler Residence Hall

Designed to be an attractive alternative to off-campus housing, this residence hall is home to apartment-style suites and a rich assortment of amenities that serve the building, campus, and neighborhood.

  • Location

    • Pittsburgh, PA

    Size

    • 113,500 GSF
    • 266 beds

    Program

    • Apartment-style dorms, lounges, wellness room, study spaces, game room, multi-use space, community market

    Practice area

    Certifications

    • LEED Gold Certified

    Awards

    • IIDA Design Award- First Place in the Living Category- NJ PA DE Chapter

A welcoming campus home, a new eastern gateway to campus

Located at a prominent intersection adjacent to a residential neighborhood, the design seamlessly blends with its urban surroundings, offering a vibrant and inviting gateway to Carnegie Mellon’s campus. The project’s primary objectives are to establish a cozy and welcoming environment for undergraduate students. A neighborhood market on the ground level encourages connection with the Squirrel Hill community, providing a valuable amenity in a food desert.

This bustling pedestrian route includes amenities that are accessible to the broader community.
Views of the city are abundant within the building.
Thoughtfully positioned along a well-traveled pedestrian route, the building’s dynamic main entry offers an inviting welcome and hang-out space.

Designed for students, by students

Student engagement was a critical part of the programming process, helping the design team to identify preferences for shared spaces. What we heard loud and clear: students were happy to share a living and dining room with a large group, but for a kitchen and a bathroom, they strongly preferred sharing with a group of four. The resulting design provides eight-person suites with a generous, shared living and dining room, but with two kitchens and bathrooms per suite.

Project impact
  • 0.06 CFM/sf

    Building envelope air infiltration rate, which is comparable to Passive House standards

  • 8,000

    SF grocery retail market that serves the building, campus, and greater Squirrel Hill community

For more information about this project:

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Collaborator

IKM

Project Team

3iVE, LLC

Acentech

Arup

Code Red Consultants, LLC

ColburnGuyette

Collaborative Lighting, LLC

Haley & Aldrich

HLB Lighting Design

Klavon Design Associates

Kolano Design

Langan Engineering & Environmental Services

RSE Associates

Simpson Gumpertz & Heger

Vermeulens

Vertran Enterprises

Wil-Spec

Photography

Ed Massery

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