Strawberry Place

Vita Student’s Strawberry Place building had two jobs running at once. It had to meet Vita’s brand standard to the letter, in rooms where the finish is part of what residents are paying for, and it had to perform as a tall block of 374 studios, so a room high up works as well as one near the ground.

In a branded student building, people read the interior closely. The lighting, power, data and AV all had to land on Vita’s standard, while the services behind them did the quieter work: fresh air into every studio, hot water that holds its pressure high up the block, and life safety that stays out of the way until it’s needed. Coordinating that across 374 studios, to a brand standard, was the job.

Each studio got its own MVHR unit, so fresh air and temperature are held in the room rather than averaged across a floor, and the heat in the extracted air is recovered instead of lost. The hydraulic design was worked up the full height of the block so pressure and flow hold at the top as well as the bottom. A life safety generator backs the systems that must stay live in an emergency, and a sprinkler system protects the building. Through all of it, the engineered services were coordinated to sit inside Vita’s standard for lighting, power, data and AV, so the design and the engineering worked together rather than against each other.

The building is open and running as Vita Student Strawberry Place. Each studio holds its own conditions, the hot water performs up the height of the block, and Vita’s standard is met throughout.