In its quest to entice more upperclassmen back to residence on campus, the College has recently launched the design process for a new townhouse style residence hall to be constructed directly north of Stevenson. This new facility, projected to be open in the fall of 2006, will house 168 juniors and seniors in multiple person suites.

Oberlin also recently purchased the two houses north of the building site. These homes will either act as administrative offices or eventually be removed in order to facilitate the new facility.

College-selected Philadelphia-based firm Dagit Saylor Architects, ResEd staff and several students active in the earlier site-selection process for the new hall met Wednesday to discuss design specifics.

Larger-scale decisions still pending include whether the hall will be two adjacent buildings or merely one large unit and how parking around the site will be configured.

At Wednesday’s meeting, architects were leaning towards constructing the hall as one large L-shaped building due to this design’s efficient use of site space, as well as its creation of a courtyard between the hall and Stevenson.

“We hope this can be a bowl or collection area for students on North Campus,” stated Ron Watts, acting vice president for finance.

Yet reservations were expressed at the design meeting at the largeness of a single building.

“We don’t want students to think, ‘Oh, they’re just building another residence hall,’” said ResEd assistant director Michele Gross. “There is a feeling of massiveness to it. We’re trying to get away from the close-packing of residence halls.”

Although many aesthetic and functional details of the new hall have yet to be decided, with what ResEd hopes will be the help of several student committees and open forums in the next few weeks, a number of features have already been determined.

The building will be composed of suites complete with bathroom, kitchenette, living room and 3-5 single bedrooms. There will be different arrangements of these elements from suite to suite.

“It’s designed to give choice, because we understand that people want different things,” Watts said. Doubles were included in the original designs; however, based on an overwhelming amount of student housing requests for singles this year, ResEd asked that new plans exclude shared bedrooms.

Previous committees also suggested that large common areas be limited and that space instead be incorporated into the suites themselves. Dean of Students Linda Gates voiced doubt at this design, however, and it will therefore remain open for later discussion.

“I would hate to think we closed that door early-on and then later wish we had left it open,” she stated.

Other proposals introduced at the meeting included an indoor or covered area at which students could park their bikes, picnic tables and internet access ports in the courtyard, wireless connections, more abundant closet shelf-space and the possibility of College-provided full length mirrors in each suite. The College is also considering the possible incorporation of classroom-type areas within the new hall, in which students could invite their courses or seminars to meet outside normal hours.

“This facility won’t be a traditional dorm,” Watts stated.