In 2014 we developed a presentation for Wellesley College that outlined how to update the "living rooms" in the dormitories. Traditionally the living rooms were an important social component of residential life at the college. Now many of them are outdated and need to be redesigned. The rooms are quite varied according to when they were built: some are grand stone rooms with soaring ceilings built in a vaguely Gothic style, others have elaborate wood panelling, all have fireplaces and pianos.

The goal is to create spaces that accommodate current standards of student residential life. At Wellesley, this entails a variety of group and individual meeting spaces, performances, celebrations, a considerable amount of flexibility, and plenty of outlets for the constant use of laptop computers .

After completing the study we have begun redesigning them.The first project is in what is still referred to as the "New Dorms" (built in 1952!). When we were interviewing students during the programming phase of the project, we were surprised and delighted to learn that that though the students were interested in the tradition of these rooms and in how they have always been used for house meetings and social gatherings, they were most interested in creating a variety of comfortable places to study.