Project Spotlight: Mako Hall - Nova Southeastern University Davie, FL

Serving as a prominent pedestrian hub for Nova Southeastern University, Mako Hall is a seven-story, 312,000-gsf residence hall that is home to over 600 upperclassmen. NBA provided architecture, interior design and landscape architecture services for the project, transforming the university’s former intramural soccer field into student housing. Offering amenities such as an Innovation Center, a multi-purpose room and private and group study rooms on each floor, the facility creates an ideal setting for student collaboration and social growth.

The C-shaped Mako Hall acts as a campus anchor, capping off the pedestrian-centered campus from the vehicular-oriented College Avenue. Two large exterior courtyards surround the development; the passive courtyard provides abundant shade under the Florida sun while the active courtyard is designed to encourage social gathering among students with amenities such as hammocks, a fire pit and grilling station.

The contemporary Mediterranean style incorporates steel and glass elements that give the building a modern look and feel. Working with a precast façade design, the NBA team added a custom precast formliner to enhance texture and depth and adjusted the form of the units to create shadow lines along the façade. The team centered and pulled out the ground-floor amenity space, framing it with glass and steel that juxtaposed the residential portion of the project. Floor-to-ceiling windows were used throughout the building to allow ample sunlight into the residence hall. Glass study nooks were also positioned at the ends of the corridors to welcome natural light on each floor.