Trustees consider new IU housing

IU will take its first steps in their master plan of improving campus housing by demolishing parts of Ashton Center and constructing new apartment-like student housing.\nThe IU board of trustees' facilities committee interviewed four architectural firms for the project Thursday at the University Place Conference room at IU-Purdue University Indianapolis and selected one firm to be announced at a later date.\nUniversity Architect Bob Meadows said the trustees will select one of four firms to design the 700 to 900 units to be built, which would be the first construction of student housing in more than 30 years.\nThe firms interviewed are Radio Architects of Indianapolis; the Jacobs Group of St. Louis; Veazey, Parrot, Durkin and Shoulders of Evansville; and Kirkwood Design Studio of Bloomington.\nAfter selecting the firm, a site will be selected and a schematic design will be developed. After initial plans are proposed, a budget will be drawn up and presented to the trustees. The trustees have the ability to approve all parts of the project, including location, budget and architecture. \nThe cost to the University has yet to be determined.\nLarry Isom, director of Facilities Management for Residential Programs and Services, said the first phase of the master plan, which is currently in the works, is renovations to Campus View Apartments, the complex for married couples which is located just north of Eigenmann Hall.\nFacilities committee chair Peter Obremskey said this is part of their 10- to 20-year master plan to give housing on campus a complete make-over.\n"Gone are the days of traditional housing," he said. "Students no longer want to live two to a room with gang showers. Kids want more privacy."\nMeadows said the new housing will be more similar to apartments than to current dormitories. They will not be high-rise buildings, and they will have an off-campus feel. The units will feature two to four private bedrooms, with a shared bathroom, kitchen and living area. \nMeadows said the new housing will respond more to student demands.\n"At home, students have their own rooms and bathrooms, so they want something similar at college," he said. "It's difficult to attract upper-classmen to live on campus without these amenities. They want something more grown-up."\nTrustee and member of the facilities committee Sue Talbot said the new housing will allow students to remain on campus with the benefits of an apartment.\n"I spoke with a lot of students who said they miss the dorms because they said they feel they missed out on a lot of the experience," she said. "This way, they still have the activities and community of living on campus, but they still have all of the benefits."\nThe costs for students could be more than other dorms, Talbot said, but it is still too early in the process to make an estimate.\nAlthough it could cost more, Meadows said the housing is necessary to keep students on campus.\n"If we don't renovate and build new dorms, then only freshmen and sophomores will live there," he said.\nThe board passed a rule in September mandating that all freshmen stay on campus for their first year. Meadows said the new housing will mostly be filled with upperclassmen, who will have preference, similar to acceptance into Willkie Quadrangle. \nMeadows said despite the new housing being constructed, there will probably be the same number of units on campus due to other out-of-date complexes being demolished or renovated to expand room size and quality.\n"Some of the dorms have outlived their lifespan," he said. "That is why we are doing a massive renovation and demolition of some dorms."\nOne of these dorms that is being considered for demolition is Ashton, Meadows said. He said it is likely that some or all of the dorms in the dormitory will be knocked down in the fall because of its age.\nTalbot said it is true that Ashton is one of the post-World War II dorms, but said it is yet to be determined by the trustees whether Ashton will be demolished or simply renovated. \n"If the dorms are not as desirable to students anymore, then we need update and upgrade," Talbot said.\nObremskey said Ashton is one site suggested for the new apartment-like units.