Adelphi Commons
Tempe, Arizona
GouldEvans

Clever planning and design redefines the experience of sorority life

© Bill Timmerman

For more photos click on 'photos & drawings' above. To see the people and products behind this project click on 'people & products.'

The Adelphi Commons complex takes a fresh approach to student living. The traditional sorority house is often a renovated house in a residential neighborhood located near the college campus it serves. This condition prevents it from being part of one communal whole, and limits social and academic interaction. Adelphi Commons successfully addresses this dysfunction, serving as a hybrid of both an autonomous community as well as a complex of communities. Individual chapter rooms within the housing complex allow each sorority to be identified specifically. In addition, the 328-bed facility creates identifiable living spaces knitted together as one community, where each sorority participates as part of one collective whole.

The community of twelve connected sorority houses fosters two modes of operation—a student mode and an event mode. The clusters are organized along a pedestrian "street" and a large common central lawn. Each sorority has its own enclosed front yard that serves as an outdoor living room. Individual study areas within the bedrooms that surround the courtyard are visually connected to this outdoor space and encourage social interaction among students within the house. The chapter house adjacent to the courtyard provides the sorority with a formal venue for chapter meetings, and also serves as an informal space to lounge with friends. Double-height glass doors allow the room to completely open to the courtyard and serve as a stage to small events taking place. This event mode allows the sororities to function as one community for larger social and academic functions.

The assembly of spaces seamlessly joins student life with the Sonoran Desert environment. Each courtyard incorporates native trees and plantings that provide shade during warm summer months and sun in winter. Visible through semi-transparent rolling screens, this landscape spills out of each individual courtyard and into the communal areas, creating intimate shaded destinations that promote interaction among students.

Formal name of Project:
Adelphi Commons, Small Group Sorority Housing,
Arizona State University

Location:
Tempe, Ariz.

Gross square footage:
84,821 sq. ft.

Total construction cost:
$7 million

Owner:
Century Project Management Partnership, L.C.

Client:
Arizona State University
Department of Residential Life

Architect:
GouldEvans
3136 N. 3rd Avenue
Phoenix, Arizona 85013
602.234.1140 (p)
602.234.1156 (f)
www.geaf.com