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The New Dorm (Parliament Hall)

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The New Dorm

As you probably know, FAU is planning to build a new dorm that will open in Fall 2013 (with a second phase in 2014… not sure what that means). To be constructed south of Parking Garage 2, this new dorm will house ~600 freshmen and contain a Centre Marketplace-type cafeteria.

You can see renderings here on PGAL's website.

(Maybe Rick can peel them off and make them into a more reasonable size here - I don't know the HTML for resizing images using the IMG tags)

Pretty unimpressive so far - like something out of Minecraft. It resembles IRT's shape on the outside, rooms are nearly the same as GPT on the inside. Seriously… just a fragment of a hallway connecting rooms with bathrooms… no living room, no kitchen, no laundry…? Again? We're doing this again?

Did Tom Donaudy really think that this was "very similar" to what off-campus housing will be like? He can't be serious.

Don't get me wrong: I'm very happy that we're building a new dorm. And years ago I was of the opinion that we needed to get as many people on campus as possible, and if that meant stacking people like sardines in tiny jail cells, so be it, just get as many as you can on campus.

But then I spent time visiting friends in GPT/HPT rooms and I understand why A) students go home on the weekends and B) students really don't want to re-sign there again next year. You feel trapped in there. It's not a home.

I used to think the residential students went home on the weekend just to see family and friends. But it's more than that. It's depressing to come back to your small cubicle on campus. And when you go crazy and need to get out of that space, not many people are around to hang out with because nobody else wanted to stay in their cell either so they went home to a real, comfortable living space.

Fortunately we have IRT, UVA and IVA… but seriously…  we cannot keep building these jail cell dorms if we want people to stick around. College freshmen may not be fully-formed adults just yet but that doesn't mean we can board them like dogs at a kennel (and charge them $5,000/semester for the privilege).

On the upside, University Park's business should be booming once students see this.





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They may seem a bit small but I guarantee that people will choose FAU over some other schools because of how nice/new our res. halls are. I talk to countless students who love that all our halls are suite style and that you have the option to have your own bedroom. People will like these new ones even more because of the two full bathrooms.

Also, I think people need to just deal with the fact that hey live in a small place. People are WAY too spoiled and they don't want to live with anyone. They make it seem like having a roommate it the worst thing in the world, when really, it's a part of life. It's what makes college such a growing experience.
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I'd have to agree with FAUfasho.  There's no way in hell I want to live like that now, but I put my time in during college and I earned my freedom.  I lived in the University village studio apts. for 3 years, and still managed to have a great time and even throw some good sized parties in there.  As a college student, I think you would be so happy to get out on your own and have a nice, brand new place to stay, and not worried so much about a lack of living room space.  Yes, you probably won't have many return customers, but with enrollment increasing every year, I don't think that would be an issue.  Plus, I think that happens at every college, once you get raped one year paying for on campus housing, most people move off campus anyway.  I'm just glad to see the school continuing to expand.

FAU - We got Bowls!
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Nice and I too am glad to see the school continuing to expand on-campus housing. Remember, this is Freshman housing so to me they should not be as nice. Get them started away from home and move into better housing next year should be their goal (besides surviving their freshman year!).
The argument that they will want to go home on weekends to "their old rooms" sucks to me. They should not want to go back to mommy and daddy (but I so know that many do), they are supposed to be growing into adults and living on their own. As the school expands it's reach into attracting more out-of state students, the "problem" of them going home on weekends will lessen as it won't be easy (or cheap) to run home for a couple of days.
And as athletics gets better (IT HAD BETTER - ACTUALLY CAN'T GET MUCH WORSE CAN IT?) students will also want to stay for the weekend games which are free for them to attend (I know, they are paying though their fees).
I see there is another 600 beds planned for 2014 and with phase two of innovation village coming soon thoise two projects will ad 2400 more on campus beds. So that will bring on-campus to something over 5000 beds (does anyone know the real number we will be at?) Pretty nice to think of 5000  or so  students living on-campus!
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FAUfasho said

I talk to countless students who love that all our halls are suite style and that you have the option to have your own bedroom.

Singles are awesome if you can get them. It seems like everyone wants them… so I'm not sure why we're building so many doubles. A  few, sure, since it's a little cheaper, but to have half doubles and half singles when everyone wants singles… doesn't make much sense to me. If the demand is there and the revenue potential is higher there, why not make more single rooms?

I agree that it's a growing experience, though I doubt you learn that much more in a double than a single. People have different idiosyncrasies and a psychological need for personal space and they just don't get that in a double. Can they survive without it? Sure. Does it make for a more tense living situation? Undoubtedly.

Just to wrap this up: I think FAU's wisest move for all future dorms would be all singles with some form of living room space. In my mind, it's not about students living in the lap of luxury. It's just about creating an environment that students can go into freshman year, personalize it into a "home", stay on the weekends, have company over, and renew every year because that's their space (Casa Del Rio, if you've ever been over there, is a perfect example of how a small, dorm-sized space can still feel like a home)

At that point you go from "our projected numbed of beds needed is = number of incoming students this year" to "we need to build more dorms and have 7-10k beds on campus because everybody's keeping their rooms, telling their friends how awesome it is to live here, and we're constantly at 100% capacity."

Doesn't that make more sense than what we're doing?
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FAUfasho said

They may seem a bit small but I guarantee that people will choose FAU over some other schools because of how nice/new our res. halls are. I talk to countless students who love that all our halls are suite style and that you have the option to have your own bedroom. People will like these new ones even more because of the two full bathrooms.

Also, I think people need to just deal with the fact that hey live in a small place. People are WAY too spoiled and they don't want to live with anyone. They make it seem like having a roommate it the worst thing in the world, when really, it's a part of life. It's what makes college such a growing experience.

I loved living on campus. Maybe because I was from out of state but I lived in Modoc and I had a roommate and 2 suite-mates. Last year I was the best man at my suite-mates wedding. Living in the dorms was fun, even though the one i lived in (Modoc) isn't there anymore

My two favorite teams are FAU, and who ever is beating FIU!
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I loved living in GPT my freshmen year.  I lived in a double with 2 suitmates, just like Jab, and had a great time.  I think the students that live on campus and then go home for the weekend are the ones that wished they went to UM, FSU, or UF, and won't put any effort into supporting FAU.  It's the local commuter students and local residential students that go on to transfer after their second year.  So if we don't retain them, then fine, good riddance.  I think the key is to get residential students from places other than South Florida.  With exception to Greeks, those not from South Florida are the only ones that I know that stay at FAU for their college career and support FAU athletics.
I am disappointed that the new dorm will be just 4 floors, meaning it'll only be a year until we need new dorms again.  ::)
It also would've been nice if it could be closer to the Housing Lawn.  Maybe tearing down Gonk, building up (because of the limited space over there) to 8 or 9 floors, and put a few floors of parking garage under it (much like what UCF and FIU have done).
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Owl2Doc said

(Maybe Rick can peel them off and make them into a more reasonable size here - I don't know the HTML for resizing images using the IMG tags)

Per your request…



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