In Progress

Featured Project

Living Village

Yale University’s first net-positive graduate housing facility at Yale Divinity School, the Living Village is designed to be triple-net-positive for energy, water, and waste, with on-site ecological water treatment and site infiltration. Upon meeting the rigorous guidelines of the Living Building Challenge (LBC 4.0), the complex will transform how colleges and universities pursue environmental leadership in campus residences.

Yale University, Yale Divinity School
New Haven, CT 43,000 sf Targeting Living Building Challenge 4.0

The project includes construction of graduate housing and modification of the entry to the adjacent Delano and Aldrich–designed quadrangle, and will serve multiple purposes: as an active training facility for builders of communities, an affordable student residence, a demonstration site for ecological stewardship and leadership, and an outward expression of contemporary regenerative architecture.

Bruner/Cott is leading a collaborative and comprehensive integrated design process with design collaborators Howeler + Yoon Architecture, Andropogon Associates, and a robust team of consultants: setting guidelines for energy and water performance, prototyping super-insulated exterior wall assemblies in mass timber applications, and overseeing regulatory review among multiple water and utility authorities. The project is designed for net-positive energy and water as well as zero waste, and it includes extensive collection, on-site treatment, and reuse of rain and wastewater.

The Living Village engages in dialogue with the strongly formal, historic architecture. The U-shaped two-story building captures solar energy and water with familiar but fresh massing, roof proportions, and form. The Living Village benefits from regenerative design strategies implemented for the climate and biome conditions of the northeast.

The Living Village will be the largest living-building residential complex on a university campus and is recognized as a key building project supporting Yale’s Sustainability Vision, Climate Action Plan, and Planetary Solutions Project.