Reign Living at the Stadium

The architect realized that if he could eliminate at least 25 percent of floor plan area from the previous architect’s four-story flats student housing building, he could achieve a three-story building instead. At three stories, the apartments could be vertical, with bedrooms separated for privacy on the two upper levels.

The innovative, back-to-back new vertical apartment design (denser than townhomes) eliminated all shared interior common areas, such as corridors, elevators, and bike storage rooms. All vertical apartments now have street-level entrances and porches along the outside public ways. With rated vertical exterior walls between units, the design eliminates the need for rated electrical components, fire alarms, and floor-ceiling rated assemblies.  Before the pandemic, the architect believed that the young student renters would see the internal stairs as a positive, as it would afford them more privacy on separated floors. Students prefer the arrangement of having bedrooms socially distanced by floor. During the pandemic, all suites were leased with enough waiting list to refill the suites of students who opted not to attend university in person this year.