Greenville, South Carolina
Furman University opened Lakeview Hall in August 2024 as the first step in upgrading the neighborhood historically dedicated to first-year students. “Lakeview Hall is the cornerstone of the re-imagining of South Housing, our home for all first-year students,” says Ron Thompson, associate dean of students and director of housing and residence life. Built to launch students into their college years, the hall is filled with state-of-the-art features and grounded in a design that took shape in part from student feedback.
Lakeview Hall is a coed hall for first-year students that offers 210 beds in single, double, or triple room options with pod-style bedrooms. It also provides ADA-compliant rooms. Students have access to a community kitchen, study lounges, and recreational lounges. “During the initial planning phase, students taught us the value in differentiating social space from quiet space,” says Thompson. “We built their recommendation; each floor has a large central social lounge between the two wings, with small, intimate, quiet lounges for study or silence on each of the wings. All of these lounges have been used heavily since opening, and it has been heartwarming to see the building meet so many students’ needs.”
The many windows, a crucial part of the design, allow natural light to flood the building and frame beautiful views of campus from anywhere in the building. Thompson describes the features at the top of his list of favorites. “There are a few elements of the building that stand head and shoulders above the rest. First, the design philosophy of ‘see and be seen’ led to a social artery right through the center of the building, from the bottom to the top. Between the building’s lobby, the community kitchen, monumental staircase, elevator, and social lounges on each floor, an undeniable energy radiates through the building.”
Additionally, Lakeview Hall is home to the offices of the Center for Interpersonal Connections (CIC), which is dedicated to engaging students in globally diverse populations so that their community can thrive and foster a sense of belonging for everyone. Having the CIC within the hall emphasizes the university’s commitment to creating an environment where all students feel that they belong, which further nurtures student success and retention.
In November 2024, Furman received two Green Globes from the Green Building Initiative for the efficient water, lighting, and heating systems they installed in Lakeview and for their efforts to reduce the environmental impact of the work during construction. Renovations of the additional buildings in South Housing are moving along, and the university expects that all will be complete by August 2025. At that point, the campus will have a total of 718 beds for first-year students.
Lakeview Hall has set the standard for building community for first-year students, strengthening students’ bonds through class affinity and modeling a neighborhood feel for their residents. “Our students live on campus for all four years, and they move through the residential system in a developmental pathway, living by class throughout their time. Lakeview Hall has sent a very strong message of support for students’ college transition, community, engagement, balance, and affinity,” says Thompson. —Camille Perlman
Spotlight is your chance to show off recent construction or renovation projects. Member institutions and architects are encouraged to share details about hall features, related programs, and how they connect to the overall housing mission as well as photographs of the completed building. Share your success stories.
