Princeton University Meadows Apartments building, New Jersey graduate student housing, NJ design

Princeton University Meadows Apartments

December 1, 2025

Princeton University Meadows Apartments – Campus Expansion

Design: Mithun, USA

Location: Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, United States of America

Photos by Chris Cooper

Princeton University Meadows Apartments Building

CAMPUS EXPANSION AND NATURAL CONNECTIONS

Finding an affordable apartment at Princeton University is possibly as tough as getting into this prestigious Ivy League institution located in the heart of New Jersey. In response to this critical demand, the University incorporated graduate student housing as a key component of the significant Meadows Campus development that expands the campus south across Lake Carnegie. Now complete, the first phase of development has created a foundation for continued growth with a vibrant 604-student housing community alongside athletic facilities and district-scale energy systems.

Situated at the gateway of the Meadows Campus, this graduate housing community is both grounded in its pastoral setting and a welcoming extension of main campus. Pivoting residential wings are arranged to optimize views and minimize impacts on the neighboring and treasured Delaware and Raritan Canal State Park, which dates back to the 1830s and links more than 70 miles of multi-use paths and trail networks. Residents and visitors are drawn through verdant residential courtyards created by the building wings, into the heart of this new student community.

Princeton’s campus has a long history of using physical portals to streamline pedestrian movement between buildings and courtyards. Meadows housing continues this tradition with six pedestrian portals that provide connectivity between the residential wings, varied courtyards and verdant vistas — fostering a sense of place and resident well-being.

GRADUATE STUDENT PRIORITIES AND PERSONAL CHOICE

Like graduate students nationwide, Princeton scholars identified their top priorities in housing to be privacy in balance with social connection, and affordability. To serve a spectrum of personal preferences and cost sensitivity, the design incorporates a wide range of apartment configurations — 13 different unit types in all. To support residents’ comfort, academic focus and overall well-being, all apartments are tuned for acoustic control, access to daylight, thermal comfort and biophilic connection to the site.

At the south nexus of the development is an active plaza flanked by the community center and student café. Here residents can access lounge spaces, children’s play area, package center, study spaces and leasing office. This heart of the complex is an important magnet, providing critical social engagement and a break from campus demands — always available but separate from the quieter residential zones of the community.

ADVANCING PERFORMANCE WITH PASSIVE HOUSE

Princeton has established a campus-wide goal to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2046. This project was charged to set a high standard for future development, reflecting ambitious carbon performance and value-driven design. In response, Meadows Apartments is one of the largest Passive House certified projects in the country, with a high-performance envelope and building systems. Sustainability synergies unite the campus buildings from green infrastructure to geothermal exchange wells to low-embodied carbon materials.

In concert with deep green integration, creative design strategies were evaluated with affordability in mind at each decision point. Leveraging a prefabricated wood-frame structure and locally sourced materials, Meadows Apartments was developed at a cost that is 35% less than other recently completed on-campus student residences locally and nationally.

VICINITY

The Meadows Campus expansion was established to accommodate Princeton University’s growth goals and provide affordable housing to its graduate students.

MEADOWS CAMPUS MASTER PLAN

The Meadows Apartments Graduate Housing serves as an important gateway and front door welcoming students and visitors to this new extension of Princeton. The environmentally sensitivity of this site required a three-story massing solution (40-foot height limit) that created a low-impact new neighbor to the historically significant Delaware and Raritan Canal State Park.

Meadows Apartments is comprised of three residential buildings that reach out to the adjacent forest and define a series of four unique courtyards. Second from the left, the gateway quad channels residents to the social heart of the student community, flanked by a community center on the right and a retail cafe on the left. These amenities offer social connections, food and recreation for the community’s 604 graduate student residents.

TIGER PAW MASSING

Named in honor of the University’s beloved mascot, the “tiger paw” massing creates interlocking courtyards and segmented building articulation which sensitively connects the three residential buildings to the site.

STUDENT FLOW

Six passages, or portals, are strategically placed to support pedestrian circulation and define building entry locations. The ‘heart’ of the residential community is at the terminus of the three courtyards through this intentional articulation.

EMBRACING WOODLANDS

The arrangement of the building shapes creates four distinct coutyards, each with purpose and identity, offering a plethora of student activities

The central quad is the largest and most formal of the four courtyards. It presents a welcoming arrival experience and is a flexible setting for informal recreation and group gatherings. On the right is one of the six portals that interconnect the community’s courtyards, enhancing pedestrian flow and opportunities for social connection.

The heart of the Meadows Apartments is at the nexus of the central quad and prime resident amenities: the retail cafe on the left and the community center on the right. Massing and facade articulation is orchestrated to display interesting deep shadows and an organic playfulness to the facades.

At dusk the glassy community center is highly active with social, recreation and academic activities. Indoor spaces are linked fluidly to exterior gathering spaces inviting all residents in for community connection.

The community center includes spaces for many student amenities including areas for study, package and mail support, leasing offices and a children’s play area. Shown here are the social spaces which can be sub-divided into two spaces for events or kept open for open engagement.

The community center displays a mass timber exposed roof system to complement the residential structures which are composed of pre-fabricated wood frame panels featuring renewable and low-carbon materials.

The residential unit designs offer students a wide variety of sizes and configurations to choose from with varying levels of privacy and rental rates. Each unit maximizes daylight, space efficiency and thermal comfort for residents.

A range of choices is also available to residents in the landscape, with courtyards tuned for diverse activities from athletics and recreation to a quiet moment of reflection or community gardening. The exterior palette is inspired by the adjacent forest of elm and maple trees, reinforcing a connection to nature and this site.

Photos: Chris Cooper

Princeton University Meadows Apartments building images / information received from Mithun architects, USA

Location: Meadows Campus, Princeton University, New Jersey, United States of America.