Title: Hoffler Place
Location of Proejct: Charleston, SC
Project Completion Date: July 2019
Firm Name: LS3P

Short Description: This new student housing project in the heart of Charleston maximizes the building footprint while adopting a neighborly approach to design. The form engages the street with residential-scale components and creates a vibrant pedestrian experience. A metal clad tower frames a double-height volume enlivened and illuminated by student activity inside. An interior vaulted concrete and structural glass paver system, often seen in NYC sidewalks, brings daylight deep into the building. A recurring art deco motif and subtle diamond pattern throughout the facility pays homage to the site’s former occupant, a historic African American movie theater.

Architect's Statement: This new multifamily project in the heart of Charleston brings the energy of student life to a fast-growing district. The client wanted to maximize the building footprint while adopting a neighborly approach to the project; the resulting design creates a vibrant streetscape with careful attention to massing and scale, inviting courtyards, and ground-floor retail.

The form engages the street with residential-scale components designed to break down the building’s mass as it steps back from the street. An exterior palette of natural limestone, cast stone, brick, and fish scale metal panels adds visual interest and texture to the façade. A metal clad tower at the corner frames a double-height volume at the top floor enlivened and illuminated by the student activity inside. Close collaboration with Charleston’s Board of Architectural Review resulted in a design that merges an urban building with its timeless architectural context, anchoring a prominent corner in a neighborhood that is rapidly redeveloping.

The interiors likewise reference the city’s historic architectural detailing. Features include high-end finishes with bold, student-friendly geometric patterns. A rooftop soaking pool, fitness spaces, study lounges, and built-in niches and gathering spaces provide student space outside of the residence areas. The amenity corridor recreates the experience of meandering alleyways; porcelain tile slabs lining the corridor resemble the color of wrought iron and the texture of plaster. This large format tile provides both architectural charm and extreme durability in a student living environment. Handmade wall tile installations create a sense of movement and mimic the growth of a native creeping fig.

A vaulted concrete and structural glass paver system provides filtered light from above, reminiscent of dappled light shining through a tree canopy on a leisurely garden walk through a Charleston alleyway. This system, often seen in NYC sidewalks, brings daylight deep into the building’s interior spaces. Built-in cove lighting illuminates this feature at night, creating a playful lighting scheme at the pool deck. A recurring art deco motif and subtle diamond pattern used throughout the facility pays homage to the site’s history as the former home of the Lincoln Theater, a historic African American movie theater.

The full level of below-grade parking, unusual for this district, necessitated a permanent sheet pile wall and careful detailing to integrate mechanical systems. The exhaust system is embedded into framed carriage-style doors which look more like storefront than mechanical space, and the intake is integrated into benches along the perimeter. Also noteworthy is the four-sided design detailing for the facades; the building will be flanked by new development in the coming years, but as the adjacent sites are yet to be developed, the project needed to be attractive in the short term from every vantage point.