Student Housing

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 hold the cost-per-bed an owner expects from multifamily.

To the real morning peak, not an averaged daily figure. A residence hall sees most of its showers compressed into a narrow window before class, so we size the central plant and storage to that synchronized demand, 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. 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 ASHRAE 62.1 ventilation and centralized scheduling. Deep unoccupied setback for summer and break periods is where most of the energy savings live, 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 set the sprinkler basis of design — NFPA 13, or 13R for buildings four stories and under — for the fire-protection contractor who performs the hydraulic layout. 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-aware 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.