Art College's New Dormitory Turns a Challenging Site to Advantage

This Chronicle Buildings & Grounds blog post contains many nice images of this distinctive residence:

The result is a building that in ways both subtle and clever balances the college’s needs nicely against the community’s. Openings in the building’s main drum allow passersby to glimpse the interior and frame the best views for the students inside, so that the building feels open to the city around it—as indeed it is, since the cafe and gallery will welcome the public. At the same time, the building downplays the site’s less appealing views and cuts down traffic noise, and a carefully-sited guard desk offers security without seeming heavy-handed.

Community Colleges: 'Going Residential"

This article, "Going Residential," is from Inside Higher Ed by Jennifer Epstein. It is a nicely done review of a number of institutions which have implemented or are implementing student residence life at the community college level:

Of the 1,100 colleges represented by the American Association of Community Colleges, 233 public colleges and about 40 private colleges offer some on-campus housing to their students. Norma Kent, the association’s spokeswoman, said that although “nobody’s documented the full picture, it is our sense that there is increased interest and growth” in campus housing at community colleges.

“With more traditional-age students enrolling at community colleges for a variety of reasons, colleges and students seem more receptive to on-campus housing,” she said. “They want that college experience.”

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.