LOUIS—KWK Architects is training its expertise on crafting dorm rooms that can adequately withstand the ferocity of tornados, which are a very real threat throughout a significant part of the country. Accordingly, KWK has been tapped to design “reinforced” rooms and storm shelters that can withstand the ferocity of such storms.

KWK has designed such reinforced rooms for a group of schools in Tornado Alley, including Headington and Dunham Residential Colleges at the University of Oklahoma, the University Commons residential complex at Missouri S&T and Victor E. Village at Fort Hays State University in Kansas.

Javier Esteban, principal at St. Louis-based KWK, said that such rooms should be constructed according to standards fashioned by International Code Council (ICC) 500 and the National Storm Shelter Association (NSSA), however that is not always possible.

“Many times the restrictions in terms of ventilation, structure, and exit requirements make designing to these codes cost-prohibitive for universities,” Esteban said. “In those instances, it is still possible to design for student safety via a compromise where some public areas of the residence hall have strengthened or reinforced structures, doors, and windows.

“It is critically important to maintain the structure of the reinforced area so that should a building collapse occur, it does not affect the integrity of the reinforced space, and its occupants remain safe,” he said, adding that these tornado safe rooms are meant to withstand EF-4 or EF-5 storms.

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KEARNEY, Neb.—The University of Nebraska’s Kearney campus will soon be adding a Greek Village to its student residential portfolio, and it will also provide more housing for UNK’s Greek community. When finished, this will increase residential living space from nine of UNK’s fraternities and sororities to all 12.

As designed jointly by KWK Architects of St. Louis and BWBR of Omaha, the Greek Village at UNK will entail building out an entirely new residential hall structure as well as renovating the existing Martin Hall. This requires tearing down University Residence South and University Residence North, which were constructed in 1991 and 1992, and replacing them with a 43,000-square-foot, three-story structure directly adjacent to Martin Hall.

The new residence hall’s first floor will offer chapter lounges for each sorority, and the third floor will entail an open floor plan offering 122 beds. Meanwhile, the 42,500-square-foot Martin Hall, which has been vacant since 2014, will be refurbished according to a similar layout as the adjacent new structure. It too will offer an open-floor plan on its second and third floors as well as chapter lounges on the first floor. The renovated Martin Hall will also entail a chapter community room in the basement and a community “great room” on the main floor to encourage socializing among the various Greek organizations.

Martin Hall will entail a grand total of 120 beds, and the design by KWK and BWBR aims to maintain as much of the building’s historical facade as feasible. Accordingly, the architects are working in conjunction with general contractor Samet Construction of Raleigh to realize the two-structure enterprise.

In a statement emailed to School Construction News, Javier Esteban, principal at KWK, said that designing the new residence hall required being able to “separate different Greek houses under one roof.” Esteban said that this was necessary to fashion “independence [while] still adhering to all life safety standards related to egress.”

Regarding Martin Hall, he added that the two main challenges of design work entailed working with the hall’s low floor-to-floor heights and “maintaining the schedule for the new construction since the project was done in two phases.”

“UNK has a reputation for quality, student-centered experiences, and our Fraternity and Sorority Life (FSL) community is one of the best examples of this dynamic educational environment,” Kelsey Hassenstab, assistant director of fraternity and sorority life, said in a recent release.  “This project will facilitate more community building among the FSL organizations by providing more opportunities for all the chapters to be involved.

“It’s more inclusive and progressive housing, which will allow us to grow closer as a community and work together to achieve our educational and community service goals.”

Martin Hall is due to be finished in January, with the new residence hall due to be completed in August.

“Whether renovation or new construction, the independence of each Greek organization was paramount,” Esteban said of his work at UNK, adding that flexibility is a key ingredient to both buildings’ eventual success. “The design team created individual entries and identities while ensuring the buildings were coherent with the rest of the architecture of the campus.”

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RALEIGH—KWK Architects of St. Louis is hard at work on phase 4 of a five-stage project known as the Greek Village Master Plan for North Carolina State University, located in the Tarheel State’s capital city of Raleigh. KWK is co-designing the village with local firm Jenkins·Peer Architects of Charlotte, with general contracting work performed by Samet Construction.

The original Greek Village Master Plan was drafted in 2006 by Sam Reynolds of Reynolds & Jewell Architects. Subsequent redesigns were called for in both 2014 and 2020, with the latest reimagining calling for a five-phase redevelopment to conjure a new neighborhood within the campus.

The village will entail 62,000 square feet of apartment space and 37,000 square feet of townhome-style living arrangements—representing a grand total of 279 beds. The living arrangements include four-bedroom apartments and three-level townhomes. Furthemore, the village will offer a commercial-grade kitchen and communal dining facilities.

KWK and Samet’s workload entailed tearing down earlier buildings on the site including entomology labs that had fallen out of use. Construction on the new apartment and townhouse living quarters is underway and anticipated to be completed next fall.

KWK was founded in 2013, and its portfolio includes educational projects nationwide. The firm operates from its headquarters in Webster Groves, Missouri.

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SIOUX FALLS, S.D.—South Dakota’s largest city also happens to host the biggest private university in the Mount Rushmore State. And thanks to a new housing unit envisioned by KWK Architects of St. Louis, Augustana University’s students will soon have more space to call home away from home.

KWK and general contractor Mortenson recently completed the buildout of Wagoner Hall, a 54,000-square-foot dormitory. The $16.75-million Wagoner Hall is available for students from any grade, which is in line with the other residences throughout the campus. At Wagoner, freshmen live on the first floor, with upper classmen residing on the two floors above. All told, the dormitory will be home to some 200 students.

As part of KWK’s design, Wagoner is an L-shaped building that offers semi-suites of four beds with one shared bathroom. In addition to living spaces, the area at the front of the residence hall boasts a multi-purpose space that will be usable for students, faculty, visitors and various groups.

The university recently reported that Augustana University Director of Housing Operations Jenna Bump said that the university doesn’t subscribe to the one-size-fits-all model of living on campus. Accordingly, Wagoner offers many different types of studios, apartments and suites for student living.

“Instead of forcing students to be like ‘this is your only option or these are your only two options,’ we’ve kind of opened it up to have all students choose whatever option will work best for them, for their living style, for their price point,” Bump told the campus newspaper the Augustana Mirror.

Part of KWK’s design aesthetic was the promotion of communal activity. According to KWK Principal Paul Wuennenberg, Wagoner’s lounge and kitchen space are meant to foster the creation of an on-campus family.

“The 54,000-square-foot hall is multi-functional for the entire campus community and features flexible classroom space that can be used for programming during the day, then utilized for community interactions in the evenings and weekends,” Wuennenberg said.

In a statement to School Construction News, KWK Principal Javier Esteban mentioned that ongoing supply-chain issues required the designers and contractors to think on their feet during the construction itself.

“The team had to respond quickly to find alternates that not only matched the design intent but could also be delivered on time,” said Esteban. “Working together with Mortenson to find the right suppliers and the right alternates was critical.”

Construction commenced in the summer of 2021 at the southern portion of the university’s north campus.

Wagoner represents just one piece of Augustana’s ongoing expansion efforts, which will later entail an additional 75,000-square-foot residence hall for another 300 students.

KWK was founded in 2013 and focuses on the educational sector, with the goal of enhancing the campus living experience. The firm reports more than $1 billion in construction projects since their founding nearly a decade ago.

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Opus Design Build L.L.C. served as the project’s design builder and Opus AE Group L.L.C. was the architect and structural engineer of record as well as the interior designer; both departments are headquartered in Minneapolis and operate a Des Moines, Iowa, office. KWK Architects of St. Louis also served as architect. Construction took place over 19 months, beginning in May 2015 and finishing in December 2016.

“As pioneers of the design-build approach, we were honored to collaborate with ISU on the university’s first ever design-build project,” said Jeff Smith, vice president, Opus Design Build L.L.C., in a statement. “Through our team approach, we were able to collaborate with ISU from start to finish to develop a flexible design that delivered added value to the university’s student housing needs and maximized the available resources to go above and beyond the project requirements.”

Located near the ISU Memorial Union, the new residence hall offers 392 rooms and features a variety of formal and informal gathering spaces, including a large activity room, various study areas and community spaces on each floor. The new structure also introduces to the campus the concept of “front porch” spaces that serve as areas for residents to socialize and meet in groups, according to a statement by Opus. This design element reflects ISU’s tradition of grouping students living on each floor into a “house.”

“The sooner we create meaningful connections among students, the more likely they are to graduate,” said Dr. Peter Englin, director, ISU Department of Residence, in a statement. “The design of Geoffroy Hall enhances our house system by giving our students places to both naturally and intentionally cross paths and build those connections.”

Geoffroy House, which was designed to meet LEED Gold certification standards, should be operating at full capacity by the upcoming fall semester. Opus also completed The Foundry, a luxury student housing complex located adjacent to Iowa State’s campus, which opened in 2015.

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