The new college is envisioned as a village center, as both thoroughfare and a destination. By weaving the massing betwixt and between its collegiate gothic neighbors and a number of landmark structures by Robert Venturi, Williams & Tsien, and Harry Cobb, the new college is able to remain scale-appropriate while navigating a steep grade change. The project achieves a sense of palimpsest through both these scalar moves as well as a rich material palette that reflects historic campus architecture.

A heuristic building across many dimensions, Hobson College meets environmental performance criteria demanded by both Princeton’s ambitious sustainability goals and an increasingly climate-conscious student body, setting a new gold standard through the use of mass timber construction, geothermal heating and cooling, and full recycling of demolition debris.