https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PEQFdmapgc
Video courtesy of Jim Ravelli.
by Alana Laanui |
Three people and 173 square feet just don’t add up. Hundreds of students are currently in “extended living” situations due to a greater influx of students needing on-campus housing. But a solution is underway.
Construction will begin this week on the new dorm hall to be located on Willamette and Portsmouth behind Haggerty and Tyson. The new space will provide much needed relief to the over-occupancy of the current residence halls and will accommodate around 290 students.
Residence Life Director Chris Haug acknowledges this potential, but also recognizes that the new dorm won’t solve all of these problems.
“I don't think it is necessarily a silver bullet to solving all of our space issues,” Haug said. “We are still going to rely on extended doubles as we move forward, but it certainly will alleviate the pressure that we are feeling right now.”
The new dorm will include double, triple and suite room set-ups. Suites will be located on the second and third floors, and will include three double rooms attached by a living area with kitchen counter space. Haug explained that the doubles in the new hall will be more spacious to allow for a third person if necessary.
Like many of the residence halls on campus, the new dorm will house about 50 percent freshmen with the rest of the rooms being open to students of other grade levels. This model known as a “stay hall,” which Haug said allows students to learn from one another.
Jim Ravelli, vice president for university operations, is in charge of all major construction projects on campus. He is supervising the construction of the new dorm.
Ravelli said the new hall will have a “residential over retail” set up. The first floor may include university services, a chapel or a restaurant and other possible student services that are still being discussed. The residential space will be located on the second, third and fourth floors of the building.
“Because it is right on Willamette, we did not want residents right on the first floor,” Ravelli said. “We will use the first floor for other things, which is yet to be determined.”
Ravelli said that the restaurant to be potentially located on the first floor would allow students in that dorm and around the area access to quick meals.
“We are thinking about food service,” Ravelli said. “So this would be the first time food service will actually be in a residence hall, but this has yet to be confirmed.”
Administration is excited about these possible additions to campus, but the construction schedule to complete the dorm is tight. The new dorm should be up and ready for move in by fall of next year, which Ravelli said means there isn’t much time for mistakes.
Planners have taken multiple steps to ensure that the new dorm is ready in time, including having construction continue on Saturdays. Also, by pre-fabricating pieces and having them trucked to the site, the construction timeline will stay on track. This strategy will also help account for the weather, as building during the rainy season often comes with obstacles.
“This method works a lot better in rainy weather,” said Ravelli. “We are hedging our bets that even if we get really lousy weather, we will still be able to move construction along.”
This new building, along with many others on campus, will meet the qualifications for Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) silver, keeping with the University’s ideals on sustainability. In the future, the dorm may be wired for solar power but, right now, the main focus is on construction.
Haug said he is very excited to welcome this new dorm to the campus family.
“This new dorm is like our campus community baby, and they are going to walk into it thinking this is like Corrado, Villa or Ship,” Haug said. “I think that's what's really exciting, it's part of the family.”
Alana Laanui is a reporter for The Beacon. She can be reached at laanui18@up.edu or on Twitter @AlanaLaanui.
