The University Board of Visitors recently approved the construction of four new dorms in the Alderman Road residence area as part of the plan for renovating the entire area.
According to Richard Kovatch, University associate vice president for Business Operations, the University intends to replace 11 of the 13 residence halls that comprise the Alderman Road area. The plan is divided into four phases, he said, and the construction of Kellogg House dormitory was phase one of the plan. The Board of Visitors approved the concept site and design guidelines for phases two and three of the plan Thursday.
Phase two includes the construction of two new residence halls.
“We just started working [on it],” Kovatch said. “The architect for this phase has been hired, and we’ll be working with that architect on the design of these next two buildings.”
The new buildings will feature the same design elements as Kellogg House, including available program space, study lounges and social lounges, Kovatch said. Construction on the first building will probably start in late spring and the next building would follow soon after, Kovatch said.
Phase three of the project is the construction of two additional dormitories, one of which will open in fall 2011. The other will open the following fall, Kovatch said.
“We’re going to basically start moving down the hillside and toward the dining hall,” University Architect David Neuman said. “And then those new buildings [including Kellogg] will ... form a kind of semi-circle as they go down the site.”
Each of the new dorms will accommodate about 200 students, Kovatch said. Currently most Alderman dorms accommodate 108 students, though some hold 144.
To make space for the new buildings, existing structures — including Dobie, Balz, Watson, Webb and Maupin — will be taken down sequentially, Kovatch said.
“The first residence halls will come down right after the end of the spring semester,” starting with Dobie, Kovatch said, noting that first-year housing currently is under-capacity.
“Dobie is not fully [used] and we have beds available scattered throughout the first-year area,” he said.
Phase two also includes the construction of a student activities building, or commons.
“It will kind of be a focal point for that particular area where students come [from] throughout the residential area [for social interaction],” Kovatch said.
The commons buildings will be located in the center of the site, Neuman said, adding that “when Balz House will be demolished, there’ll be a new green ... open space created where [it] was.”
The project, which also includes a fourth phase, is scheduled to be completed by fall 2017, and Kovatch said he does not foresee any major issues with financing.
After completion “there’ll be a total of seven new buildings that will replace the 11 existing residence halls,” he said. “And then there’ll be additional space available for future residence halls should they be needed.”
Kovatch explained that the project is the result of several years of planning, not just for the buildings but also regarding concerns about landscaping and including more space for interaction and socialization among students.
“The goal is to first of all provide contemporary residence halls with all of the facilities that you would expect as a first-year student,” Neuman said.
The project aims to respond to feedback about the Alderman residence area, Kovatch said, noting “the way [the buildings] were situated and laid out didn’t really foster much interaction among the students between the individual residence halls and even within the residence halls, since they were suite-based.”
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