Can student residences be designed to fight loneliness? U of T Mississauga is finding out - Toronto Star

UTM's new 400-bed building is designed to create face-to-face interactions to improve students' mental health.

At the University of Toronto Mississauga campus, student housing is shifting away from traditional apartment-style layouts to a more hostel-like community space. 

There is an earthlike smell when you enter the New Residence.

The new student housing building designed specifically to foster student mental health is nestled among willow and pine trees in a corner of the University of Toronto Mississauga (UTM) campus.

The six-storey copper-brown residence building, the campus’s first new residence in nearly 20 years — the last one was built in 2007 — features 400 new beds, with 115 single rooms, 135 double bedrooms and 15 staff bedrooms, all split into 25 pods.

Designed by Montgomery Sisam Architects, the idea was to create stronger student communities by shifting away from traditional student housing models that kept them isolated in their rooms.

The hope is to counter an epidemic of loneliness and growing anxiety among students, with Canadian youth reporting higher odds of anxiety and mood disorders. 

“There is so much light coming into this building (and) so much opportunity for connection,” said Tim Fricker, interim dean of student experience and well-being at UTM.

The transition into university can be a “really stressful” time for students, he said, and giving them access to the surrounding land, through building design, is essential to their well-being. “There’s intention to detail every element of it.”

Robert Davies, in red, and Chad Nuttall look out the windows placed in common areas, which are designed to help foster a feeling that students aren’t alone.

The university hopes to announce an official name at an opening ceremony sometime this fall, but in the meantime, it’s being referred to as New Residence.

Semilore Olafare, a residence assistant from Calgary who moved in the week before students, said it’s been a “refreshing” change as she settles into her private room, which is slightly bigger than a single dorm. She said one of her favourite parts is the tree canopy surrounding the building.

“You’re talking to somebody who is a tree enthusiast,” she said. “I’m like ‘the Lorax’ movie.”

Her room has wooden accents and she can dim the lights, she said, which gives her room a “nice ambience.”

The new residence’s floors interlock with one another so students can peer from the hallways through indoor windows to people-watch in common areas and feel a sense of community rather than isolation, according to the university officials and architects involved.

Along the outer walls, large windows offer a glimpse of the willow trees and wetlands that surround the campus, which school officials said helps connect students back to nature and feel less isolated. Cicadas chirp loudly, hidden among the leaves.

The building has 400 beds, separated into 25 pods, with amenities like kitchens and lounges.

Half the rooms are designed as single and double bedrooms, said Chad Nuttall, assistant dean of students and international initiatives. A single bedroom would cost about $17,000 for the year and a double bedroom, shared between two people, would cost about $11,000.

“We had to look for opportunities to increase density and also look for opportunities for affordability,” said Nuttall.

There are common lounges in the centre of each floor with green-accented couches and kitchen amenities with more windows, serving as the “centre of life” for students, said Nuttall. A large mural spans one side of the wall, extending to all the floors, depicting one large-scale tree and woodland creatures.

“If there are people hanging out there, you’re going to see them right away,” he said. “The hope is that those create connections right away.”

Some windows overlook an amphitheatre outside the residence, which is located in front of the podium, where the “community functions” of the building, such as the lobby, a music room, a games room and laundry facilities, are located.

Another way to foster connection was to place washrooms at the end of the hallway to ensure students have to pass one another to get there, said Robert Davies, principal architect at Montgomery Sisam Architects.

Benches have been installed outside of many rooms, inviting students to sit, talk and create community.

Bright lights line the hallway, with more wooden accents inside. Just outside each dorm is a bench, where Davies envisions “the extrovert sitting with the guitar” in between classes.

“There will always be life when you come out of your room,” he said. “You’re not alone, which is a big part.”

Colin Ellard, professor emeritus of psychology at the University of Waterloo, said when students have a minimum of 10 minutes of exposure to nature, it can have a “measurable effect” on a person’s emotional state and physiology. “Some doctors will actually diagnose nature exposure as a treatment for depression.”

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Ellard noted that UTM’s New Residence has many exposures, including its use of natural materials, that could benefit a student’s mental health during high-stress periods, such as moving away from home for the first time.

The focus on encouraging students to have “face-to-face” connections with one another is another element that stuck out to him when looking over the residence’s design. 

“They’re living in a setting where they might feel like they’re all by themselves,” said Ellard. “Anything that you do in design that breaks that down is going to have a positive impact on student mental health.”

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Sadeen Mohsen is a staff reporter with the Toronto Star. She can be reached at samohsen@thestar.ca.