URI Celebrates Opening of Brookside Apartments
The 500-bed residence hall adds new amenities on campus
Creating a new residential community on campus that also addresses the environmental impact of the site
University of Rhode Island Brookside Apartments and Landscape Restoration
The building establishes a new campus residential precinct and restores an adjacent brook
The University of Rhode Island engaged Sasaki to design a 500-bed residence hall and surrounding landscape terraces, and to restore a historic brook and wetlands at the northwest end of the Kingston, RI campus—on the west bank of White Horn Brook.
This involved moving some functions that previously existed on the project site and reconfiguration of the 100-year floodplain to meet state wetland requirements.
The restored natural landscape and brook are integral parts of the residential experience and an asset for the broader campus community.
Plazas and courtyards create places for community gathering between the building common spaces and the natural riparian landscape
The entry plaza is set at a crossroads for multiple campus experiences
The project is designed to support the transition of the senior class from university to professional life. Apartment units are configured in 4 and 6-bed suites, with full kitchens and private baths. The building is configured into two bars that are positioned to respect the historic streambed, create courtyards, and provide each room with either morning or evening sunlight.
The café provides food options for students, a place to hang out with a friend, and supports events held in the adjacent multipurpose room
Common spaces focus the social life at the ground floor with a multi-purpose room, grab-n-go station, and student lounges. These spaces have a direct connection to two exterior landscape courtyards, each with a unique character. The southern court has a public character and faces the main campus. The courtyard to the north of the building is focused as a private teaching garden for building residents.
The main lobby is Brookside’s living room, supporting both intimate and large gatherings with fixed and flexible furniture.
Social spaces throughout the building provide a visual and material connection to the natural landscape, a theme throughout the project
A simple palette of materials, combined with breaks in building massing and gentle manipulation of fenestration help create a sense of intimacy and identity for the community
Lower massing and site walls form the eastern face of the project create a varied residential scale and a windbreak to protect courtyards from northern winter winds
The design creates a garden-like setting where landscape, furniture and stormwater infrastructure are integrated into a seamless and sheltered environment
Subtle but robust natural materials and details provide variety and human scale in a residential environment
In addition to the development of the two courtyard spaces framed by the new residence hall, the project design includes parking lots and vehicular roadways, landscaped stormwater management areas, and a large area of landscape restoration along the White Horn Brook and wetlands are included in the overall project scope.
The Brookside Apartments opened with a ribbon cutting in early 2020.
Glazing along the first floor “floats” the building above the ground plane and the integrates the interior common spaces—including the café—with the outdoor plazas.
For more information contact Vinicius Gorgati.
