The construction of the new freshman village on the south side of campus is scheduled to be complete in late July opening up to incoming freshmen in August for the 2021 school year.
The project is on schedule, with some changes happening in the recent weeks.
“A lot has changed in the recent week and we started pouring the concrete on the second and third floors,” said Kevin Campbell senior vice president of the operations office. “From a management standpoint, the project is going very well.”
The hall is being constructed to house both male and female students.
“We have on our campus traditionally only one building that’s been standard co-ed and that’s Smith Adams,” Director of Residence Life Shannon Kaczmarek said. “We have in the past done some co-ed variations with Barret Hall but we are literally building this building designed to be able to house both freshman men and women.”
The building itself will have separate spaces designated for each gender, including study spaces, common areas and bathrooms.
The building is still utilizing a community bathroom style but with a redesign that has the potential to make it feel private.
“We’re still utilizing it as a community bathroom residence hall but rather than having these big bathrooms with one on a big long hallway, we’re doing these pocket bathrooms where you either have a small private use bathroom you can go in and lock the door behind you or you have a small community bathroom,” Kaczmarek.
Due to the nature of differing numbers in students through the years, the dorm is also adaptable to become an all female dorm or all male dorm.
Residence life is aiming to create spaces for students to feel at home on campus and hope this new residence hall feels like home to incoming freshmen.
“I think that so much of the reason why we’re doing this is we care so deeply about students being able to come here and have a home they can live in,” Kaczmarek said. “We want that living environment to be comfortable and designed to have a home for them. We’re about creating homes not just a place for students to sleep and it’s going to cost us some money but it’s worth it.”
