New dorm to be built near Read, Willkie

A new dorm will be joining the southwest neighborhood in the next few years as plans for a new building, set to open in fall 2013, have now been approved.

The new facility, which is part of the IU Residential Programs and Services 2009 five-year building plan, will sit somewhere among the Wendell W. Wright Education Building, Willkie Quad and Read Center. A name has not yet been determined.

The five-year plan also includes renovations to existing dorms and the construction of three new apartment buildings. The entire plan is expected to cost about $140 million.
Phillip Eskew Jr., a member of the Board of Trustees and chairman of the Facilities Committee, said the new dorm construction plan stems from a growing number of incoming students.

“We need more dormitory space on the Bloomington campus because we continue to have almost record numbers of incoming freshmen each semester,” Eskew said.

Sara Ivey Lucas, assistant director of assignments for RPS, said the dorm will house 400 to 450 people and will have a similar floor layout to the renovations in Teter and McNutt Quads.

“It will be more traditional designs to hold first year students” Ivey Lucas said. “It will be what we call ‘double loaded corridors,’ a long hall with rooms on both sides.”

Ivey Lucas also said there will likely be bathrooms that are single occupancy but shared by everyone on the floor. That type of bathroom has already been put in place in parts of McNutt and Teter.

“We have really been looking at bathrooms and privacy issues in terms of not making a bathroom for an entire floor, one for men and one for women,” Eskew said. “Rather, we would try to provide for more privacy.”

But Assistant Vice President and University Architect Bob Meadows said the building is in such an early stage, there is little that is certain.

“At this point, we are really just evaluating whether or not this is the proper location for additional housing and the number of units that could fit in there,” Meadows said.

The new building will have a Silver Leed Certification, which requires the construction to score high marks in sustainability, water efficiency, indoor environmental quality and other standards as outlined by the U.S. Green Building Council and the LEED green building certification system.

“The University has a mandate that at least everything has a Silver Leed Certification, and some of our more recent buildings have been gold,” Meadows said. “It is our intent to do everything that we can to be as green or energy efficient as possible.”