Art College in Boston Will Share 21-Story Residence Hall and Its Health Center

The Massachusetts College of Art and Design will build a striking 21-story residence hall in downtown Boston—and plans to share it with two nearby colleges.

The college signed a long-term lease under which the 493-bed building (left; rendering by ADD Inc.) will also house students from the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. Students from both institutions will share the art college’s campus center, which is being renovated. It will offer shared dining facilities as well as a shared bookstore.

In addition, students from the pharmacy college will have access to the building’s health center, as will students from the Wentworth Institute of Technology. Both the pharmacy college and the technology institute will contribute to the cost of building and operating the new facility.

Kay Sloan, president of the art college, said the project demonstrated how much can be accomplished when institutions collaborate. “By partnering with MCPHS and Wentworth, we will provide students of all three institutions with a range of services none of us could provide alone,” she said. “Particularly in this down economy, it is a win-win for all of us.”

Officials of the art college said the 145,000-square-foot building would let them house 38 percent of their students on the campus, up from 22 percent now, and would make it possible to guarantee housing for all first- and second-year students.

ADD Inc. designed the building. Construction is to begin in June.