Following completion of a housing master plan, Arizona State University determined a need for additional student housing on its Poly campus in Mesa, Arizona. In a public-private partnership with Capstone Development Partners, ASU engaged Shepley Bulfinch to design a 376-bed residential building for lower- and upper-division students associated with the Barrett Honors program. Barrett, the nationally recognized Honors College at ASU, is a selective residential college that offers a distinctive academic experience to outstanding undergraduate students.

Shepley Bulfinch served as the design architect, tasked with enhancing the environment and living experience of the community of students studying and living on the Polytechnic campus. The final building program included a mix of residential unit types as well as specific common and amenity spaces.

The design blended a creative, design-focused building with affordability for student residents and cost and quality for the client. Amenities focused on creating community within the residence hall, giving students flexible community space that could be used for large group gaming or small individual study sessions. At a high level, the goal was to bring the academic environment into the residence hall.

The overall massing and siting of the building were pushed to the north edge of the site, creating a new campus quad between this project and the existing residence hall to the south — a shared campus space with a large event lawn capable of hosting everything from food truck Fridays to concert series and, potentially, graduation ceremonies.