Ithaca, New York
Catherine Commons is an apartment-style residential community for the Cornell University off-campus student population in the Collegetown district of Ithaca, New York.
The project consists of six residential buildings located on two adjacent sites: Catherine North and Catherine South.
Prominently lining the main artery of College Avenue and gracefully stepping down in height towards residential neighborhoods and the City of Ithaca, Catherine Commons includes studio, 1-, 2-, and 3-bedroom apartments, all with private bedrooms and bathrooms and access to retail and recreational amenities including a fitness center and indoor and outdoor community courtyards.
Catherine Commons by ikon.5 architects, won an American Architecture Award 2025 from The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design.
Catherine North encompasses three buildings connected via an open metal pedestrian bridge.
The eight-story Building 1 includes commercial spaces on the first floor with multi-family residential units above, while Buildings 2a and 2b, both four stories, are designated solely for multi-family residential use.
The ground level between the buildings is open to promote physical and visual connections to the interior courtyard.
The façades of Buildings 1 and 2 are clad with terracotta tile shingles and metal panels with one- and two-story window openings.
Catherine South also comprises three buildings, which step down in height as grade falls along College Avenue and Cook Street. Buildings 3a and 3b are seven stories of multi-family residential units with a ground level Fitness Center.
Building 3a is clad in terracotta tile shingle checkerboard that creates a solid/void pattern and the building 3b façade is a double-story grid frame with storefront and dark metal panel infill to promote a light transparent massing.
The three-story Building 4 is residential in form and scale with a pitched roof and projected front porch.
The multi-family building is set back from the street to align with neighboring houses.
It is clad in standing seam metal panels and diamond-shaped metal shingles with residential scaled windows and dormers to complement the Collegetown vernacular.
Project: Catherine Commons
Architects: ikon.5 architects
Design Team: Arvind Tikku, Charles Maira, J. Daniel Cummings, Shawn Daniels, and Nicole Bansal
General Contractor: Welliver McGuire Inc.
Client: Integrated Acquisition & Development Corp.
Photographers: Brad Feinknopf
