Mercer Times

Princeton's Yeh College and New College West residential colleges have received two 2024 American Institute of Architects National Awards, one in the AIA Awards architecture category and one specifically for residences. The architect was TenBerke, formerly known as Deborah Berke Partners. The landscape architect was Field Operations. The new residential colleges had previously won a regional New York AIA award.

“We are very pleased that Yeh College and New College West have been recognized by the national AIA Awards program,” said Ron McCoy, University architect. “It is particularly significant that the buildings have been recognized in two separate award categories – one for exemplary architectural design excellence and another for housing.”

The residential colleges "foster a deep sense of community,” said McCoy, offering “a variety of transparent, welcoming and comfortable spaces for living and learning.”

“In the category of design excellence, the AIA has acknowledged the exceptional contributions the buildings make to the traditions of excellence in architecture, landscape, and craft that make the experience of the Princeton campus so special,” McCoy said. “Perhaps even more meaningfully, because it aligns so much with our aspirations for this project, the award for housing recognizes the importance of housing as ‘a sanctuary for the human spirit.’”

“This ambition is reflected in the ways that the colleges foster a deep sense of community,” he added, “with a variety of transparent, welcoming and comfortable spaces for living and learning.”

Yeh College and New College West, which opened in fall 2022, support the University’s undergraduate student body expansion and ambitious goals to attract talented students from all backgrounds with nation-leading financial aid. Each serves 510 students. The University’s eighth residential college, Hobson College, is currently under construction.

The University's residential colleges are living-learning communities that serve students through academic advising, peer mentorship, health and wellness resources, as well as other academic and co-curricular programs. Undergraduates interact across class years within these communities led by a faculty head along with staff such as college deans, assistant deans for studies, assistant deans for student life, and residential life coordinators.

###