Pollock Halls is a multi-phase renewal of Penn State’s first-year residential district at University Park, delivered with Clayco and DLA+ Architecture. With Mackey Mitchell serving as Design Lead, the project is anticipated to renovate nine existing residence halls across five phases, totaling approximately 621,920 GSF and 2,715 beds at full buildout. The work reimagines traditional residence halls with updated student rooms, shared single-user wet core bathrooms, enhanced mobility rooms, refreshed common spaces, and stronger indoor-outdoor connections. Exterior improvements preserve the existing masonry structure while adding new insulation, waterproofing, terra-cotta cladding, windows, glazing, and roofing to improve long-term performance. The renewal also looks beyond the buildings themselves, strengthening the connections between residence halls, outdoor gathering spaces, recreation areas, bike parking, and the daily paths students use throughout the Pollock residential community.
Shape
Shaped by more than a decade of student housing work at Penn State, the Pollock Halls renovations build on a process of listening, learning, and continuous improvement. Since 2015, the design-build team has worked closely with students and university staff to understand how residence halls can better support daily life, connection, and belonging. Student feedback sessions, hosted each fall by Housing and Food Services, provide direct insight into what is working and where future phases can improve. That input has helped refine common spaces, bathroom configurations, and the careful balance between privacy and community for first-year students.
Inspire
The Pollock Halls renovations carry forward lessons from Penn State’s East Halls transformation, where early phases helped reduce student move requests by 75 percent and turned a once less-desired residential district into one of the most requested places to live on campus. Building on those results, Pollock Halls is being renewed as a more welcoming, connected, and student-centered residential community. With upgraded living spaces, stronger indoor-outdoor connections, and common areas designed for study, gathering, reflection, and recreation, the district is positioned to support student wellbeing, belonging, and success for years to come.
I’m excited to have the first phase of Pollock wrap up this summer and for students to move in this fall. And grateful we are able to start construction of the second phase and design of the third phase this month. A lot of hard work by a lot of talented people is making this possible.
- Richard O’Donald Facilities Project Manager with The Pennsylvania State University’s Office of Physical Plant
