Set into the top of the hillside to minimize both its exposed visual mass and its impact on the environment, the building also has a sixth and bottom level that houses a 32,720-square-foot space for the Quinnipiac Facilities Department, including offices and storage areas. A berm, stone wall, and a stone-clad corner elevator vestibule serve to lessen the profile of the garage, whose sides consist of decorative, ribbed white concrete. Corner stairways feature glass sides, affording views of the campus and rural landscape beyond.

York Hill is one of three campuses at Quinnipiac University, which has a total enrollment of 5,700 undergraduates and 2,500 graduate and law school students. Centerbrook has designed more than 50 projects for the university as part of a master plan it helped to develop.