Project Overview

Adohi Hall is a 202,027-square-foot, 708-bed sustainable residence hall and living-learning community at the University of Arkansas, and is the nation's first large-scale mass timber project of its kind. The project provides a new university gateway that marks the start of a larger living-learning district. An emphasis on nature resonates throughout the project. Connected by a ground-level passage, a serpentine band of student rooms defines three distinctive courtyard spaces that create a dynamic environment for interactive learning in architecture, design, and the arts. The “front porch” in the northernmost building is the key entry point for the complex; the “cabin” at the ground-level midpoint is the main gathering space; and the “workshops” of the lower courtyard house a dynamic live/learn program of performance spaces, music and recording studios, and maker spaces that enhance the campuswide arts program. The warmth of the project’s exposed structural wood ceilings is apparent in student rooms, study rooms, floor lounges, and common spaces, and wood columns bring the beauty of the material within reach for all. Exteriors feature a light metal jacket of zinc-toned panels with accents of textured copper-tone and white that creates a floating band of living space above the natural landscape below. Integrated into the topography of its site, Adohi Hall features a cascading series of outdoor spaces with sinuous pathways intricately woven through existing stands of mature oak trees. Undulating landforms, local sandstone seating areas, and drifts of native planting recall the geological and ecological vernacular of the Ozark Plateau.