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Living quality and experience in medium or higher density student housing in Wellington is suffering from the inconsiderate internal spaces and underutilised common areas. The aim of this design-led research thesis is to provide design solutions that would be able to improve the quality of life in local student housing in architectural aspects. Several precedents were documented and analysed in each design phase to state the design directions and goals. Findings from each proposed design scheme was taken as base to expand and develop the next iteration. The three design phases have covered iterations of different project scales. Started from the designs of individual units to a block-wide student village, the iterations have addressed the research question by suggesting three design strategies, which were hyper efficiency, transitional shared space and blurred boundary. The design proposals illustrated how these strategies would be applied in different scales and how they would make positive impacts in terms of improving the quality of life in compact living environment.