Student accommodation
Studio and cluster flat
These are the two most common types of place in a private student residence. A studio is a self-contained unit with its own bed, bathroom and kitchen; a cluster flat is a shared flat with several private bedrooms, almost always en-suite, around a shared kitchen and living room.
Also known asstudio flat · cluster flat · cluster · estudio y cluster
How they differ
Both words come from British PBSA, where private residences combine shared flats with studios, and where studios are found mainly in private halls rather than university ones. In Spain the investment sector uses both terms in English; in a colegio mayor (a Spanish hall of residence with a formative programme) or a university residence, people usually talk about single or double rooms, with a private or shared bathroom.
| Studio | Cluster flat | |
|---|---|---|
| What is private | Everything: bedroom, bathroom and kitchen | The bedroom, almost always with an en-suite bathroom |
| What is shared | Only the building's common areas | Kitchen and living room with the rest of the flat, plus the common areas |
| Who it usually suits | Postgraduates, final-year students, people who want independence | First-year students, people looking for company |
| What takes most work | Isolation: whoever never leaves the studio never settles in | Living together: the kitchen, the noise, the flat's rules |
Worth knowing
The mix is decided at design stage and lived with for years. A building of studios only offers little shared life; one of cluster flats only builds community but piles up kitchen and cleaning disputes. The balance between the two is fixed in the project, sometimes with the investor already on board through forward funding, and it cannot be changed later without building works.
Sources
Related terms
- PBSAPBSA (purpose-built student accommodation) is a student residence built or refurbished for that use and run by a private operator, with rooms or studios, shared areas and services. The term comes from the British market, and in Spain it is used mainly by investors and operators.
- En-suite roomAn en-suite room is one with its own bathroom, reached only from the bedroom, instead of sharing the one on the corridor or in the flat. In a student residence it is the most visible difference between types of place, and one of the first things anyone choosing a room looks at.