MMA was selected to prepare schemes for a Student Housing and Sporting Event Village project whose brief was to build a development that would shine on the international stage as athlete housing during a major international multi-sport event then transition to exceptional student housing after the games.

Responding to the linear site and historic mixed-use context, MMA designed a bar building that unfolds across the site, forming a series of gateways that frame views to the surrounding neighborhood. Arriving at the new train station at the northwest corner of the site, students and athletes turn the corner to find the central gateway. Approaching from the south, the building’s relationship to the street front shifts: concentrated, active program areas bring retail and community services, including galleries, clinic, and childcare facilities, towards the surrounding neighborhood.

Interspersed between the buildings are a series of outdoor rooms: distinct landscape zones that welcome a range of activities, from quiet study to active recreation, to outdoor performance and gathering. A running track loops through the site, providing outdoor recreation for athletes during the sporting event and leaving an echo of the games when the site becomes student housing. The landscape includes green roofs, permeable paving and native plants and trees to manage runoff. Solar panels generate energy offsite, while units designed for natural cross ventilation reduce energy demand.  The project also supports healthy mobility through bike parking, public transit access, car sharing and electric vehicle charging stations.

The project uses a hybrid structure comprised of local Italian mass timber, cast-in-place concrete, and structural steel trusses. The mass timber plank and column system is organized on a highly-regularized structural grid that accommodates a range of unit sizes and configurations, while retaining design consistency and construction efficiencies. In all units, the building’s mass timber elements are exposed, creating a warm wood finish on the interior. Maximizing the use of local mass timber increases the sustainability of the project and reduces the building’s embodied carbon.