September 25, 2009

ikon.5 architects/DWL Design Barrett Honors College for ASU

ikon.5 architects' newly designed Barrett Honors College for Arizona State University opened this fall. The first facility of its kind in the country, Barrett Honors Residential College houses 1,700 of Barrett's 2,700 honors college students. The honors college has already become a benchmark for other universities seeking to build a similar facility. The dedication is October 15, 2009.

The $130 million Honors College is a public-private partnership between ASU and American Campus Communities, one of the nation's largest developers of campus residences. Set within the largest research university in the country, Barrett offers a small, liberal arts college environment that nurtures collegiality through communal dining, focused social activities, and small classes that encourage lasting bonds between students and their professors. Situated on an 8.25 -acre campus, the seven-building complex includes residential suites, classrooms, student activity and meeting spaces, faculty offices, a computer lab, fitness center, and dining rooms. Barrett's campus is organized around three major courtyards and several smaller, more private courtyards that include outdoor classrooms, an amphitheater, and a sand volleyball court.

Sustainability and environmental responsibility are major goal of Barrett. To support that mission, one of the residence halls is created as Sustainability House for students who choose a sustainable lifestyle. While the entire Barrett campus is designed to achieve LEED Silver certification, Sustainability House additionally features independent, floor-by-floor energy monitoring, recycling of gray water for irrigation, and naturally ventilated, unconditioned spaces.

Long a dream of Mark Jacobs, dean of Barrett Honors College, Jacobs has called the new campus "...the first purposefully designed, four-year, live-in honors college in America. Kudos and thanks to American Campus Communities without whom we never could have achieved this remarkable campus."

Alan Chimacoff, ikon.5 architects principal and Barrett's design architect said "Barrett supports today's modern, high-speed, electronic, student lifestyle with a collegial arrangement of interconnected courtyards like those that have nourished academic residential communities and lifelong friendships throughout history." ikon.5 architects designed Barrett in association with DWL Architects of Phoenix.

ikon.5 architects are known for their award-winning designs for higher education, libraries, performing arts, museums, and corporate offices. Based in Princeton, NJ, ikon.5 's practice extends to Louisiana, Arizona, Delaware, and New York.