Wallace Design Collective

The residential college model originated in Great Britain and was long confined to the universities of Oxford, Cambridge, and Durham. Residential colleges are small, permanent, cross-sectional societies of students and faculty within a larger university. Students live amongst their classmates and friends, take classes together in the college’s classrooms, study together in the college’s library and eat together in the college’s dining hall. Residential colleges are self-governed through student-led hall and college councils. Senior faculty fellows live in the college and are responsible for leading its academic life.

The University of Oklahoma is the first university in the state and one of the first public universities in the nation to adopt the residential college model. Two new five-story residential colleges, Dunham College and Headington College, house nearly 300 students in a mix of room and suite configurations, as well as providing a faculty member in residence apartment. Each facility provides seminar rooms, conference and office space, and a storm-hardened shelter, as well as various programmed spaces to promote interaction amongst students. The two facilities share a 19,000 square foot dining facility.

photos: ©Simon Hurst Photography