Occupying the least amount of land possible on this 250-acre satellite campus, the building conforms to the natural terrain of its hilltop site. Its 400,300-square-feet reaches nine stories at one point – but its mass is softened by its curving plan, and visually reduced by stepped facades and a below-grade ground floor.

The building’s top floors step down the hillside to create opportunistic settings for student lounges that claim panoramic views to Long Island Sound and surrounding hills. The sunken ground floor is made possible by a “moat” carved out of the hillside along its concave face. The moat adds to the human scale of the complex with its numerous bridges overhead, colorfully tiled entrance ways, steps, and gardens. Crescent encircles the centrally located Rocky Top Student Center, which adds more visual diversity to the campus, further conceals its perceived mass, and provides a “tent pole” for the complex as a whole.