Design Responce to a Sustainable Campus Improvement - Thermal Tank Enclosure, UNH
Expanding the boundary to create equitable environments. How can we challenge traditional boundaries of space?
This project reimagines a thermal tank enclosure as a central feature of a new student commons, transforming its massive cylindrical volume into an architectural backdrop for daily social life on campus. Positioned between the student center and dining hall, the site offered a unique opportunity to activate an underutilized area through strategic landscape and spatial design. The curved surface of the tank became both an anchor and canvas—integrated with vertical light strips that animate the space after dark and mark the structure as a glowing landmark on the elevated campus terrain. Through minimal but deliberate interventions—benches, planting zones, and a lightweight timber structure—the design invites informal gathering, study, and play. It fosters a sense of inclusion and encounter, turning infrastructural necessity into an architectural opportunity.
