University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Knoxville, Tennessee

Summary
Four seven-story residence halls across three campus sites—all designed to mesh with the existing collegiate gothic architecture—add more than 675,000 square feet and over 2,900 student beds to the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Built through a public-private partnership between UTK and RISE Real Estate, the new housing helps meet short and long-term needs driven by growing enrollment at the school. Two core campus sites, Poplar Hall and Beacon Hall, feature semi-suite units targeting underclassman. At Poplar Hall, the student housing puts the finishing touches on a neighborhood of recent dorm construction, completing a courtyard and quad, and providing pedestrian access to the existing dorms. At Beacon Hall, two sister buildings nestle into a narrow, steeply sloped site. They face a central plaza with multiple stairs and pedestrian paths that connect the community, campus, and traverse the hill. The third site, Torchbearer Hall, will open as part of a second phase before the start of the 2026 academic year.