Valley Oaks opens at Western Michigan University
Valley Oaks Residence Hall has officially opened at Western Michigan University, marking the university's first large-scale design-build project and its first residence hall constructed using mass timber.
Designed by Hanbury and built by The Christman Company, the 270,000-square-foot residence hall will house more than 1,000 first- year students in the heart of Goldsworth Valley on the Kalamazoo campus. The university celebrated the opening with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on July 29, ahead of student move-in this August.
"As universities begin replacing aging residence halls, there's an opportunity to rethink both how they're designed and delivered," said Jared Coffin. "Valley Oaks brought together mass timber, prefabrication, and an integrated design-build team to create a residential environment shaped by both construction efficiency and patterns of student life."
The design departs from the traditional double-loaded corridor by organizing smaller residential neighborhoods around floating single-user bathroom pods within extra-wide social corridors. Study lounges, telehealth rooms, community kitchens, multipurpose spaces, and a well-being studio form a network of shared spaces across the building. Glulam beams define the communal spaces, while exposed mass timber ceilings extend into single, double, and super single bedrooms.
"We really tried to think of everything to meet students where they are, foster belonging and help them thrive here at Western, and the result is even better than I could have imagined. I can't wait for our students and families to see it," said Diane Anderson, vice president for student affairs at Western Michigan University.
A hybrid structural system of mass timber and cold-formed metal framing, combined with prefabricated cross-laminated timber floor panels, four-story exterior wall panels, and panelized interior wall assemblies manufactured off site, shortened construction by nearly one-third while improving cost certainty over the project's two-year delivery. The approach also reduced the building's embodied carbon to approximately 3.5 times lower than a comparable conventional structure, with timber sourced from responsibly managed forests in Arkansas.
Construction began in December 2024. The project topped out in September 2025 and reached substantial completion in June 2026. Students will move into the residence hall this August.
