Student Housing
Student housing is dorm-grade density with hotel life safety on a multifamily budget, with an academic calendar driving everything. We deliver MEP design, prepared for your engineer of record’s review, that gives residents individual room control, carries device-heavy plug loads, holds hot water through the 8 AM shower peak, and survives August move-in after August move-in.
Dorm Density, Hotel Life Safety, Multifamily Economics.
Codes place dormitories alongside hotels — NFPA 101 groups both under its Hotels and Dormitories provisions, with mass notification driven by risk analysis and ventilation to ASHRAE 62.1 — yet owners expect multifamily cost-per-bed in a building whose occupancy may vary during academic breaks. We design individually controllable comfort with deep summer-and-break setback, hot water sized for a synchronized morning peak, and durable systems built for a fast turnover every August — coordinated with your team and sealed by the licensed engineer of record on your project.
HVAC, Ventilation & Comfort
Per-room control matched to the selected HVAC system, with deep setback when rooms are vacant.
- Individually controllable room comfort — VRF, four-pipe fan-coil, WSHP, or PTAC — matched to the budget and operating model
- Dedicated outdoor-air systems (DOAS) with energy recovery delivering ventilation to ASHRAE 62.1, or ASHRAE 62.2 for nontransient dwelling units, decoupled from room cooling
- Corridor pressurization and code-compliant bathroom and trash-room exhaust
- Humidity control and exhaust for shower-heavy bathrooms to limit mold and finish damage
- Zoned scheduling and deep unoccupied setback for summer, winter break, and partial occupancy
- Acoustic equipment selection and routing to limit fan noise in sleeping rooms
Electrical & Power
Service and feeders sized for a population that arrives with more electronics than a small office.
- Service and feeder calculations per NEC Article 220 with realistic per-bed plug and device-charging density
- Meter stacks, house panels, and unit-load diversity per NEC Article 220 demand factors
- EV-ready and EV-capable parking counts per the local ordinance, carried into the service calc
- Durable corridor, room, and amenity lighting to IES levels with occupancy and daylight controls
- Egress and emergency lighting coordinated across wings and shared stairs
- Low-voltage pathways for campus data, Wi-Fi density, access control, and CATV
Plumbing & Domestic Hot Water
Hot water engineered for a synchronized morning peak, not an averaged daily load.
- Central domestic hot-water plant sized to the residence-hall morning peak, with heat-pump water heaters where electrification applies
- Balanced domestic hot-water recirculation to limit temperature drop at remote showers, with thermostatic mixing for scald protection
- ASHRAE 188 / Legionella-aware temperature and recirculation strategy
- Stacked, riser-disciplined supply, waste, and vent for repeatable construction
- Vandal-resistant, water-conserving fixtures specified for heavy use
- Central laundry-room plumbing and community kitchen rough-in
Fire & Life Safety
NFPA 101 groups hotels and dormitories together; qualifying apartment buildings follow its apartment provisions.
- Automatic sprinkler coordination to NFPA 13 (or NFPA 13R where the adopted IBC permits, generally four stories or fewer within its height and fire-access limits) with the fire-protection engineer or contractor, who designs the system
- Fire-alarm and detection design to NFPA 72 with corridor, sleeping-room, and common-area coverage
- Mass-notification provisions where the occupant load and risk analysis require them
- Egress, smoke-control, and emergency power coordination across wings and shared stairs
- Elevator recall and firefighter-service coordination
- Designed to the applicable IBC residential classification—typically Group R-2, or Group R-3 for nontransient congregate residences with 16 or fewer occupants—and applicable NFPA 101 residential occupancy provisions, including hotels and dormitories, apartment buildings, or lodging or rooming houses
Durability, Amenities & Turnover
Built to take heavy use and a full building turnover every August.
- Repeated room and bathroom types engineered once and stacked for predictable construction
- Common-area, study-lounge, fitness, and dining-amenity systems sized to the resident population
- Robust, tamper-resistant devices and fixtures specified for high-traffic corridors and shared baths
- Submetering strategy where the owner bills utilities or tracks consumption
- Systems and controls designed for fast move-in/move-out and summer-conference reuse
- BIM coordination across stacked risers and the podium or amenity-level transfer
The codes and the calendar both push it toward hotel territory. IBC classifies dorms as Group R-2, but NFPA 101 groups dormitories with hotels under shared occupancy provisions — with mass notification triggered by risk analysis — and the building fills and empties on an academic calendar rather than steady year-round occupancy. We design comfort, hot water, and life safety for synchronized peaks and long unoccupied stretches — then evaluate the design against the owner’s cost-per-bed target.
To the real morning peak, not an averaged daily figure. Residence-hall shower demand can be concentrated into short peak periods, so we size the central plant and storage for the project’s anticipated demand profile, balance the recirculation loop so the farthest bed still gets hot water, and apply an ASHRAE 188-aware temperature and mixing strategy for Legionella control and scald protection. Where electrification applies, we evaluate heat-pump water heaters against the plant and utility constraints.
Yes, with the right system and controls. We give per-room control through VRF, four-pipe fan-coil, water-source heat pump, or PTAC depending on the budget and operating model, then pair it with a DOAS for ventilation to ASHRAE 62.1, or ASHRAE 62.2 for nontransient dwelling units, and centralized scheduling. Unoccupied setback during summer and break vacancies can cut energy use, within humidity and freeze-protection limits, so the controls strategy is as much a part of the design as the equipment selection.
We design the fire-alarm and detection system to NFPA 72 and coordinate the sprinkler basis — NFPA 13, or NFPA 13R where the adopted IBC permits — with the fire-protection engineer or contractor, who designs the system, including the layout and hydraulic calculations. Where the occupant load and risk analysis call for mass notification, we carry those provisions into the documents, all under the seal of the licensed engineer of record on your project and against the IBC Group R-2 and NFPA 101 requirements the AHJ enforces.
Durability and repetition. We specify vandal-resistant, tamper-resistant fixtures and devices for shared baths and high-traffic corridors, engineer repeated room types once and stack them for predictable construction, and design the controls and systems so a full building can be turned over fast — and reused for summer conferences. Stacked-riser discipline and BIM coordination keep the build repeatable floor to floor.