The Carmichael and Rothschild Residential Colleges are the most recent additions to Vanderbilt University’s residential college system. These projects are designed to create supportive communities where students can thrive academically and socially. In addition to housing over 600 students between them, these residences feature amenities such as Dining Halls, Great Rooms, Study Lounges, Outdoor Courtyards and, in Carmichael, a Black Box Theatre.
The colleges resonate with the Collegiate Gothic style of the campus. Lighting design goals included providing warm, integrated, energy- efficient, and maintenance-friendly lighting for a variety of public spaces. As an important part of the overall lighting design strategy, a key challenge was creating a distinct family of custom decorative fixtures for each of the colleges that match the style and scale of the architecture. Though the colleges share an over-arching Collegiate Gothic style, the detailing of each building has its own unique characteristics. The custom fixture family for each college was designed to provide the same variety. These fixtures were meticulously developed in collaboration with the design architect and architect of record. A national fabricator renowned for its custom lighting expertise and proximity to the project site, was selected to bring these designs to life and to provide constructability and budgetary feedback.
The lighting design leans on the decorative fixtures to provide ambient glow and visual interest, while discreetly integrated downlights provide another layer of light to accommodate critical tasks for each space.
Lighting controls provide energy savings and allow flexibility in all the public spaces through a variety of preset dimming scenes. Energy-efficient LED sources are used throughout with a 2700K color temperature to complement the warm brick, wood finishes, and the classical architectural styling.
Sustainability is essential to the design of the colleges, yielding highly efficient results including a LEED Gold certification for Carmichael College.
