Bishop Fenwick Place, Xavier University’s new residential and dining complex, was dedicated in September of 2011 in Cincinnati. Designed by Shepley Bulfinch, Fenwick Place is home to 535 sophomores with suite-style living in four connected wings that rise above a green terrace. The terrace also serves as the roof of Hoff Dining Commons, the university’s new central dining facility. The new Commons seats up to 700 and a retail component with seating spills onto the patio outside. The 245,000-sf facility is sited to infuse the academic campus precinct with a new social hub, its green apron providing a continuation of the campus’ signature park-like landscape.
The complex is designed to function on a series of scales, providing campus-wide dining while meeting Xavier’s need for a significant increase in on-campus student housing with a series of smaller communities within Fenwick Place’s four wings. This sense of residential ‘neighborhood’ is reinforced with a common area in each 6-8 student suite and a lounge on the floor of each wing and a double-height signature space on the top floor. The glass-walled lounges are places to “see and be seen,” conveying a sense of vitality to the wider campus. In addition to the multi-layer green roof system above the dining commons, the project’s sustainable features include low-flow plumbing fixtures and occupancy sensors for lighting. Shepley Bulfinch was the design architect for the project in association with MSA Architects of Cincinnati. It is the latest in a series of projects designed by Shepley Bulfinch that are transforming the Xavier campus. The Hoff Academic Quad’s Smith Hall (Williams College of Business) and Conaton Learning Commons were dedicated in 2010.
