If you’ve just collected your A-Level results today, you might be looking forward to a bright and exciting future at university.
Whether you’ve got a place at the university of your dreams, or you’re finding the one that suits you best through clearing, it’s a seriously exciting time.
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Of course, before you start hitting the books, you’ve got some important decisions to make about your accommodation.
Will you be heading to student halls? Do you want an en-suite bathroom or will you be content to share? Is catering necessary or are you prepared to cook for yourself? Is luxury or budget more important to you?
They’re all big decisions, but to help you make them we’ve rounded up a list of some of the best halls in the whole world.
Whether you’re looking for luxury, proximity to campus, social life, or study spaces, hopefully these beautiful buildings will help you figure out what’s important to you!
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By GlobalDataSpacebox – Utrecht, Netherlands
These sleek, colourful boxes stacked on top of each other form a particularly visually appealing student hall at Utrecht University. Inside they’ve got everything you need — a bed, a workspace, and an en suite bathroom.
The snug little boxes are the perfect self-contained living area. Students socialise and eat in the nearby cafeteria, before coming back to their cosy little pods. If you want a blank slate to personalise, something like this would be ideal.
The Hub – Tucson, Arizona, USA
You’d be hard pressed to find a list of the best student halls in the world that doesn’t feature, The Hub at the University Of Arizona, believe me, I’ve looked.
Normally being close to the university and having a great atmosphere would be key selling points but they pale in comparison to the sheer luxury offered by The Hub.
The amenities are everything here. Students can enjoy a rooftop social area featuring a pool and games tables. In the courtyard downstairs are hammocks, a volleyball pitch, barbecues, and a relaxed seating area.
The Hub also features a state-of-the-art gym and the kitchen and bedroom areas look more like luxury homes than student accomodation. Safe to say, if you lived here you’d never want to leave to go to class!
Founders Building – Egham, UK
Royal Holloway is definitely one of the most beautiful universities in the UK, if not the world.
It features a beautiful forest and gardens, large playing fields, and a small, community atmosphere. All that being said, the major attraction of Royal Holloway is Founders Building. Built in 1881 and based on the beautiful Château de Chambord, Founders is a truly impressive building.
What’s more, it’s basically all student accommodation. Very little teaching takes place in the castle, and aside from the library and a café/bar, it’s basically all students. Boasting a fantastic atmosphere and newly refurbished rooms is one thing, but how many other universities let you live in a castle?
Plus, since its right at the heart of campus, you’d be able to roll out of bed and get yourself to lectures in no time.
Urbanest Carlton – Melbourne, Australia
Urbanest Carlton at the University Of Melbourne represents everything modern student accommodation should be about.
It’s rooms are bright, airy, and colourful and available for a range of budgets.
Students can enjoy high speed Wi-Fi, a large TV room and social area, and an awesome rooftop terrace with barbecues that students are free to use. For luxury on a budget, this one is the perfect inspiration!
Paris Gardens – London, UK
You probably can’t afford to live here.
Sorry about it, but it’s true. Paris Gardens is ridiculously, impractically expensive, charging £454 per week in rent.
Still, you clicked on a list of ‘best halls in the world’ not ‘most realistic student accommodation options’ so we’re going to cover this one. Located right in the heart of London just next to Waterloo, Paris Garden serves students from any of the London universities.
Rooms offer serious luxury, with bright, modern accommodation, and huge fancy social spaces. All bills are included and the building is equipped with internet that’s so fast even Usain Bolt couldn’t keep up with it.
An incredible roof terrace offers unmatchable views over the city and you can enjoy a huge state of the art gym. The downside is that, despite the huge cost, the bedrooms are actually pretty tiny. Let this be a lesson to you: sometimes things that are expensive, are worse.
Doorm – Lisbon, Portugal
Sleek, bright modular rooms are the way to go at Doorm in Lisbon.
Available on a range of budgets, apartment sizes vary based on what you’re willing to spend. Common rooms, rooftop lounges and outside areas are perfect for enjoying Lisbon’s sunny weather while a gym and a pool will keep you fit and healthy.
Doorm rooms are so pretty and the on-site staff will help keep them that way! Everything you need for perfect, harmonious student living is here, so if you value community, then this is the one for you.
Willow Street Residence Hall – New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
Glass, stairs, and high ceilings are what characterize the Willow Street Residence Hall of Tulane University.
Apartments are laid out across multiple levels connected by spiral staircases and filled with mod-cons. These halls really pay tribute to the individuality that’s so rampart in New Orleans’ history.
Designed to fit into the French Quarter of the city, Willow Street is ideal inspiration for students wanting to find something modern and fashionable yet unique.
Tietgen Residence Halls – Copenhagan, Denmark
This is a hall that really puts socializing at its heart. Literally.
The halls are designed in a hoop shape, around a circular courtyard in the middle.
A cafe, auditorium, study and computer rooms, workshops, laundry, music and meeting rooms, and bicycle park can all be found in the central courtyard. In the apartments themselves, kitchen/living rooms face into the central courtyard so you can see friends from your kitchen and vice versa.
It’s really a hall to be inspired by if you’re a social person looking to make friends at university.
Campagneplein Dormitory – Enschede, The Netherlands
It’s hard to keep saying the words “this hall has really nice rooms” over and over again, so I won’t bother. (It does, by the way, but that’s the least exciting thing about it!)
A communal roof terrace, supermarket, and hairdresser’s salon are all available within the building but by far the coolest feature are the walls themselves.
The entire outside of the building is a climbing wall that students can enjoy! Doesn’t get much cooler than that, does it?
#9 The Campagneplein Dormitory
University of Twente ประเทศเนเธอร์แลนด์ pic.twitter.com/gKIgdwww— 옹 아랐옹 (@Lym_1388) October 2, 2012
M6B1 Housing – Paris, France
Indoor skateboarding, table tennis, a garden and a rooftop terrace aren’t things that you might find at all student dorms, but after seeing them incorporated into the design of M6B1 Housing, you might start to wonder why. It looks absolutely gorgeous and puts plants and nature at the heart of its design.
That design is also intended to maximise light capacity making the rooms bright and airy. Unfortunately, M6B1 is still in the planning stages so you can’t live there yet!
Eclipse – Cardiff, UK
Collegiate AC are known for creating some of the most luxury student accommodation facilities in the UK but this little number in Cardiff is my personal favourite. Right in the centre of Wales’ capital, Eclipse is full of amenities.
A gym and fitness studio are probably pretty standard features of the luxury accommodation on this list but how about an on-site night club? A room you can book to host dinner parties in? A private cinema? 200mbps wifi as standard?
All that in addition to modern, drop-dead-gorgeous rooms that look like they fell straight out of an interior design magazine!
Plus, with rooms starting at £137 per week, it’s actually not as expensive as you might have feared.
Uniresort – Brisbane, Australia
Who says being a student is a holiday from the real world?
Well, at Uniresort accomodation, serving all of Brisbane’s universities you might start to think you’re really on holiday.
On site you’ll find a resort-styled swimming pool, BBQ and outdoor entertainment area, heated spas, a sauna/stream room, and tennis, basketball, and football pitches.
The rooms are basic, but with all the amenities outside, why would you need to stay in your room?
Ultimately, when it comes to your halls of residence there are three important things to remember:
- How far from university are you living?
- Will you be able to actually afford where you’re staying?
- Do you value your privacy or are you a real social butterfly?
Once you know the answers to those questions, making a decision is a lot easier!
