University Commons Senior Living Community
Ann Arbor, MI
Red brick and extensive stone detailing evoke a traditional collegiate campus atmosphere for the residential development designed for University of Michigan alumni, staff and faculty over 55. This community was conceived as a place to foster residents’ intellectual, cultural and social interests. Villas and townhouses are set in small clusters surrounding the three main buildings on the rolling 28-acre site. Stone banding, custom sills, and lintels on all of the building elevations unify the three distinct building types into a coherent campus-like community. Stone is used to create elaborate door surrounds that provide a monumental feel at the entries to common areas of Houghton Hall and the four-story Woodbridge apartment buildings. The use of larger engineered brick on all the buildings allowed the complex to be built more quickly and provided some dramatic accents. A deep U of M blue glazed brick forms a subtle accent as a running bond course, a header course, and a stacked course to create a vertical accent aligning with window mullions on the front of two-story Houghton Hall. The classic design of this residential campus allows its academically-oriented residents to feel truly at home here.