Southern Oregon University – Raider Village

As Southern Oregon University’s enrollment increased and older buildings neared their lifespan, the college faced a potential housing shortage and hired SERA Architects to design a new 56.6 million-dollar development that included a 700-bed structure housed in two suite-style apartment buildings and a separate full-service dining facility. ZCS served as the civil engineer and landscape architect for the project, which included a 9.5-acre site programming layout, grading & drainage, and multiple roadway & utility improvements.

A half-mile of public storm main and a half-mile of the City’s main sanitary sewer system that needed to be rerouted posed substantial challenges for the project. Additionally, ZCS helped improve walkability & pedestrian crossings throughout the campus where there were severe grade changes through the use of concrete tunnels to maintain emergency service access to all existing and new buildings. A public street that ran through the campus was converted into a shared pedestrian and emergency services corridor to eliminate vehicular traffic.

The project achieved LEED NC Gold certification on all three buildings and Raider Village was given the ‘Best Use of Green/Sustainable Construction/Development’ award as well as ‘Best Implementation of Mixed-Use New Development’ award at the 2015 Interface Conference by Student Housing Business magazine.