Washington, D.C.
Thurston Hall is a 96-year-old historical building on George Washington University’s Foggy Bottom Campus in the heart of Washington, D.C. Home to many students for decades, Thurston closed in 2019 to begin a major multi-year renovation and reopened in 2022. This renovation overhauled the interior, so while the exterior retained its historic charm, the interior gave first-year students updated living and community space.
Thurston Hall is nine stories tall and offers 820 beds within two-person, single, or ADA-compatible room options for first-year students and can accommodate more than 30% of the first-year class. It has wider hallways and staircases, laundry rooms on every floor, and fully private gender-neutral bathrooms with toilets, sinks, and showers.
There are a variety of community spaces available, including study nooks, kitchens, a dining hall in the basement that seats 225 students, and 16 lounges throughout the building. There is also a covered rooftop lounge that provides an exceptional view of the Washington Monument. The most dramatic change for the interior involved removing several floors to provide room for a multilevel interior courtyard that allows students to enjoy their community outdoors in a relaxing, sunny green space. The design of the courtyard also allows natural light to come into the interior of the building through courtyard-facing windows. “The building is transformational, and the best addition of the building is the new usable 3-tiered interior courtyard that brings the outdoors into the building,” says Seth Weinshel, associate vice president of Business Services. “It allows for an interior oasis for our students to get out of the hustle and bustle of city life within their building.”
Thurston Hall opened with LEED Gold status and received LEED Platinum status in 2023. A green roof with solar panels helps reduce extreme heat from sunlight beating down on the building by turning it into a less direct heat source and providing more ambient temperatures. Runoff from the roof irrigates low-maintenance plants in planters, thus preventing the water from overtaxing the sewage system. New windows, along with insulation, increased its thermal efficiency and air tightness, and all new mechanicals were installed. All this contributes to the building achieving about 40% less energy use and 60% more efficiency than a typical residence hall.
“The renovated Thurston Hall will allow first-year students to have a truly exceptional experience within Washington D.C., where they can build community and connections,” says Weinshel. “Thurston Hall is an iconic building on George Washington’s campus that will allow many more generations of students to have a modern experience in an almost 100-year-old building.” — Camille Perlman