LLB, along with our partners on URI’s Hillside Hall, presented Making Lasting Connections through Strategic Residential Planning: Lessons Learned from the University of Rhode Island’s Hillside Hall at the ACUHO-i Living-Learning Programs Conference last week in St. Pete Beach, Florida. Chris Ladds was joined by Jordan Gatewood from Mackey Mitchell Architects and Chip Yensen, former Assistant Vice President of Student Affairs at URI (currently with the University of North Carolina at Charlotte). Speaking to a full-house of university housing administrators, architects, and other industry professionals, the discussion focused on how the strategic planning of URI’s Hillside Hall served as a model for living-learning communities on campus and how other colleges and universities could learn from the URI model. The team discussed URI’s Residential Master Plan and strategic planning goals, planning and design of the Hillside Hall Complex as it related to site location and orientation and space allocation and layout, and how to develop a similar building program. The session was a great success in exploring the exciting opportunities and complex challenges facing the live/learn community today. Thanks to all that came out to meet our panel and participate in the discussion.
LLB Presents at ACUHO-i Living-Learning Conference
October 21st, 2015URI Gender & Sexuality Center Celebrates Opening of Historic Building
May 11th, 2015
May 11, 2015 – The Country’s first free-standing campus center dedicated to the LGBTQ community celebrated its Grand Opening last week at the University of Rhode Island. The new Gender and Sexuality Center serves as a testimony to LLB Architects’ and the University’s commitment to diversity by providing support for the LGBTQ community and its straight allies.
Drayton Fair, Principal at LLB Architects, states “The design of the G&SC at URI is inspired by themes found in history and daily LGBTQ life. The stone facade on one volume of the building represents the strength and permanence of diversity while recognizing the 1968 Stonewall Riot in Greenwich Village. The pergola over the front entrance is representative of how often the community has had to be hidden. As a celebration of acceptance, the pergola is now a safe and open presence welcoming visitors to the Center.”
University of Rhode Island President, David M. Dooley said in a statement at the Ribbon Cutting, “This new facility is a tangible way for current and new students, faculty and staff to know that our transformational goals are far more than words on paper.” Annie Russell, Director of the Gender and Sexuality Center, said “We will also become a standard bearer for institutions across the country, to showcase the future possibilities for centers like ours.”
Pic: Kathy Bartels and Drayton Fair at the May 6th Opening of the URI Gender and Sexuality Center
