Starting with the emergence of medieval colleges, Forever Young traces the architectural history of student housing from its origins to the present day. It situates case studies within key moments of educational reform, from the medieval colleges of Paris, Oxford, Cambridge, and Bologna, to the Islamic madrasa, from the Italian Renaissance sapienza, Jesuit colleges of the sixteenth century, French Grands Collèges, to early student accommodation projects in the United States during the era of Thomas Jefferson. Highlighting how the centuries-long antagonistic relationship between colleges and the authority of universities shaped student accommodation, it further explores modern student housing since the post-World War II expansion of mass education to the present, with examples from the USA, France, Italy, the UK, and beyond.

Starting with the emergence of medieval colleges, Forever Young traces the architectural history of student housing from its origins to the present day. It situates case studies within key moments of educational reform, from the medieval colleges of Paris, Oxford, Cambridge, and Bologna, to the Islamic madrasa, from the Italian Renaissance sapienza, Jesuit colleges of the sixteenth century, French Grands Collèges, to early student accommodation projects in the United States during the era of Thomas Jefferson. Highlighting how the centuries-long antagonistic relationship between colleges and the authority of universities shaped student accommodation, it further explores modern student housing since the post-World War II expansion of mass education to the present, with examples from the USA, France, Italy, the UK, and beyond.