Clemson, South Carolina
Clemson University launched a three-and-a-half-year residence hall renovation project in 2023 that is helping to maintain close ties to its history. Bryan Mall (comprising Byrnes, Manning, and Lever halls) has been home to students since the opening of Manning in 1967. (Lever opened in 1968, Byrnes in 1970.) The three halls are an iconic feature in the center of Clemson’s campus and have offered students decades of scholarship and community. They have been consistently popular with students over the years, and in 2023 they housed more than a third of the university’s first-year students. And while the renovations in each hall provide an opportunity to update core facility needs like mechanical systems, Clemson has also added design elements that enhance engagement space inside and out.
The three halls, also known as “The High Rises,” are being renovated with an emphasis on carving out more spaces for programming, studying, and socializing. Each hall is 11 stories tall and offers housing for 450 first-year students in traditional doubles. Byrnes was the first to be renovated, and it reopened in August 2024. The community bathrooms on every floor have been replaced with clusters of semi-private spaces that are considered wet core, meaning they include a toilet, shower, and sink in a private room with a lockable door. Also new to each floor is a mix of study space and social space to invite student engagement. ADA updates include wider doorways and corridors, better access to restrooms, and new pathways outside around the halls.
The large common areas on the ground floor and first floor of each hall are being updated too. The large common area in Byrnes was transformed into a game room; in the spirit of mixing the old with the new, they were able to refurbish a pool table from the original student union on campus and set it up in Byrnes. It is cherished by both current residents and alumni. “These little details and stories that we can tell preserve a history of significance while launching us into the future,” says Leasa Kowalski Evinger, director of residential living.
There is also a sensory room on the first floor of Byrnes where students can find space to decompress. It is tucked in a quiet, low-traffic area between a study room and the staff apartment. Clemson chose furniture with calming colors and textures and installed dimmable light fixtures and a door without glass so that passersby cannot look inside. They also added thickness to the walls to dampen sound.
The exterior changes invite engagement in many ways. Each hall has a new glass-enclosed stairway on one corner that allows natural light in on each floor and gives residents a beautiful view of campus. Reorienting the main entry doors of each hall to face each other will create a central courtyard where residents can cross paths as they come and go to class or to the nearby dining hall, while enjoying the green space to relax and socialize in.
The renovations in Manning Hall are almost complete, and it will be move-in ready come August. Renovations began in Lever Hall in May, and it will be ready for move-in by August 2026. Clemson decided to renovate the three halls to keep housing cost affordable for students, and approaching the project in phases has allowed them to keep housing available throughout the academic years and offer programs over the summer each year.
Anders Johnson, a Clemson student, notes how the newly renovated Byrnes Hall shaped his life on campus. “This year in Byrnes has been the best start to college that I could have hoped for. I had an amazing residential community mentor who never hesitated to stop for a conversation in the hallway, short or long, and was there for us every step of the way. The community that I have built around myself has been incredibly supportive and encouraging during my freshman year, and I couldn’t have asked for a better start in a newly opened community.” — Camille Perlman