Improving the Comfort of Enlistment

Building Comfortable Quarters for Airmen

In an effort to improve military readiness and retention, the U.S. Air Force set out to improve upon the standard of dormitories and developed a new ‘One-Plus-Four’ design dubbed ‘Dorms-4-Airmen’ where four individuals share living space, but each has a private bedroom suite. MacDill, home to 6th Air Mobility Wing, was selected as the test site for this first prototype design as part of their housing upgrade program. With the opening of this new dormitory, 80 airmen at MacDill AFB enjoyed an immediate increase in their standard of living. After our success with this first prototype, we constructed a second mirror image 108-bed dormitory at MacDill AFB.

Project Details

This three-story dormitory is built upon a module or ‘quad’ design with four airmen assigned to a quad. Each of the 20 quad units in this facility is 880 SF and contains 340 SF of centralized living space and four 135 SF private bedroom and bathroom suites. The shared living space includes a living room, dining room, and a full kitchen with in-unit laundry facilities. Each of the private bedroom suites connects from the common space and includes a private three piece bathroom, walk-in closet, mini refrigerator, and desk/study area. Additionally, each bedroom has individually controlled heating and cooling. Additional building aspects include a common activity room, vending areas, and offices on the first floor. Exterior construction included pavilions for mailboxes and motorcycle and bicycle storage.