Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios has won its first project in the US — a ￡30 million student residence for the University of Washington in Seattle.

The practice teamed up with local firm Ankrom Moisan Architects to work on the project, which will involve the creation of 930 bedrooms and 165 car parking spaces. The site is at the western edge of the university campus and overlooks Portage Bay.

The apartments are organised in groups of two to six, with clusters around stairs and lifts to create “vertical communities”.

It also contain a coffee shop, laundry and shared music and study rooms. The scheme has been praised by the university’s architectural commission as an exemplar project.
Julian Gitsham, managing partner at FCB, said the project would allow the practice to target more higher education work on the west coast of America.

“There is a market there for our practice where we can bring strong expertise in the higher education sector through both faculty and campus building design and masterplanning,” he said.

“Combined with our huge environmental expertise we can bring to this context really new knowledge and skills to the US which we believe the more enlightened institutions are very ready to hear.”

Gitsham added that the west coast climate and neighbouring desert regions “provide an exciting challenge” for the practice.