Dormitory Complex at Massachusetts Maritime

This item, "Dormitory Complex at Massachusetts Maritime," is part of a series from University Business titled "Sense of Place." The "problem" described below was "solved" with a $3.5 million for upgrades and $13 million for two-story addition. The series is useful and worth following:

- PROBLEMS: As enrollment grew at Mass Maritime-a public, co-ed maritime college in which the regimented lifestyle of cadets has traditionally required students to live on campus-it became clear that more beds were desperately needed. In fact, this school year nearly 1,000 students had to occupy a circa 1968 dorm complex designed to accommodate 880, reports Allen Hansen, vice president of Student Services. Even with students residing in every recreation room and study lounge, administrators still had to break tradition and allow a handful of students to commute. And with just one location on the 55-acre campus available for expansion-which officials hope to use for a new library complex-it seemed that a vertical expansion of the existing complex was the best bet.