Princeton University is undertaking one of the most extensive building programs in its history over the next decade — adding some 3 million square feet in new construction to house more students, expand research facilities, and replace aging buildings and infrastructure while advancing the University toward its sustainability goals. The plans include new facilities to support teaching and research in engineering and environmental studies, additional graduate student housing, a new health center, and expanded facilities for fitness and athletics. Among the projects underway:

ES + SEAS. Princeton is building new homes for Environmental Studies (ES) and two units of the School of Engineering and Applied Science (SEAS) on Ivy Lane across from Lewis Library, Peyton Hall and Princeton Stadium. The environmental sciences area will include the departments of Geosciences, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and the High Meadows Environmental Institute, while the engineering portion will include the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering and the Omenn-Darling Bioengineering Institute. The four buildings, all connected at ground level, will create a new neighborhood that is carefully integrated into the surrounding context. It will maintain distinct identities for areas related to environmental studies and engineering and will provide strong connections to nature and outdoor spaces. The project will advance the sustainability ethos of the University and reflect the importance of environmental studies and engineering in a 21st-century liberal arts university.

Meadows Neighborhood. The Meadows Neighborhood, part of the Lake Campus Development, is a lively community including graduate student housing and amenities, a racquet center with a campus fitness space, a softball stadium, flexible rugby and recreation fields, a cross-country course and a parking garage. It also includes a central utility building (CUB) connected to geo-exchange bores beneath the softball stadium, which supports the University’s shift toward more sustainable uses of energy. The Meadows Apartments welcomed its first residents in the summer of 2024. The other neighborhood projects are finishing over time, with all current projects slated for completion in Winter 2024.

Princeton University Art Museum. Construction of a new museum building at the heart of the University campus began in the summer of 2021, and it will reopen to the public in 2025. The building complex will encompass the expanded art museum as well as the Department of Art & Archaeology and — in its current configuration — Marquand Library. The new art museum building will roughly double the space for the exhibition, conservation, study and interpretation of the museum’s collections; for mounting exhibitions; and for a new range of social spaces and visitor amenities. The design embodies the museum’s long-standing commitment to serve as a hub and a gathering place, a nexus for the arts and humanities that affords encounters with cultures past and present from around the world. In keeping with Princeton University’s Sustainability Action Plan, the new museum building includes an energy efficient design, which will reduce water usage and enhance stormwater management in the area.

Hobson College. The design for Hobson College, Princeton’s newest generation of residential facilities, considers how the spheres of living, learning, socializing and dining enhance one another, and how the college might house spaces of creativity and serendipitous collision among an increasingly diverse group of undergraduates. The project comprises a continuous sequence of three- to five-story contemporary buildings that enhance connectivity across campus with new, accessible walkways and vistas. The project incorporates numerous sustainability systems and features that will help the University toward achieving its Sustainability Action Plan goals.

The Class of 1986 Fitness and Wellness Center is the headquarters for Princeton’s campus fitness programs, serving undergraduates, graduate students, faculty and staff. To better serve the University’s growing campus community, a two-story addition has been constructed on the former Dillon Court area. The new Class of 1986 Court will be resurfaced and landscaped for recreational use. The former squash courts and parts of the building’s A level have undergone a major renovation, which creates a new accessible entrance and lobby on the north side near the existing tower and increases accessibility to most of the building with the inclusion of a new elevator. The University will seek LEED Gold certification for the building’s sustainable design.

Frist Health Center. University Health Services (UHS) provides outpatient medical care and counseling services for students and health and wellness programs that serve the entire campus community. To better advance a culture of health and well-being at Princeton, a new health center that incorporates the existing Eno Hall is being constructed. Frist Health Center is designed with interpersonal connection in mind, and the new addition will feature an accessible atrium and a multipurpose room with a green roof. The building will utilize sustainable technologies and responsible development through the active participation of the design and construction teams.