March 19, 1998

New residence hall plans taking shape

Living/learning Center to house Watauga College, patterned after Oxford University quadrangles

Leslie Hitchcock, News Editor

In response to the rapid growth that Appalachian State University currently experiences, plans for a new residence hall have been introduced.

The Living/Learning Center Building Committee, made up of representatives from the Watauga College, the University Honor’s Program, Residence Life and Student Development, has begun to meet to start planning for the construction.

Brad Reid, Director of Housing, said the intent is to build a residential college modeled after quadrangles at Oxford University in England.

“The residential colleges at Oxford were made up of four components which included residential space, food service space, a library and a chapel,” said Reid.

Reid said that the Living/Learning Center will contain residential space and a food service area.

Designed to house the 200 students in Watauga College, the residence hall will have bed space for approximately 300 to 350 residents.

According to Reid, the committee would like to place both Watauga College and the University Honor’s Program in the center, but does not think that either program could grow if joined together.

Currently, the building design will be a quadrangle in which students are housed on three sides and classes are held on the fourth side, Reid said.

There are three stages to the building process of the residential college, said Reid.

The first  part in the process is the transfer of Watauga College to the initial building which will be U-shaped, Reid said.

According to Reid, the building will house residential space, programming spaces and faculty offices.

The current idea for the residents’ rooms will be suite-style, where two student rooms will be joined by a common bath, Reid said.

Reid speculates that the center will open in August 2001.

The next stage is to build the fourth side to the quadrangle that will house classrooms, said Reid.
The wing will also contain faculty offices and apartments.

With the completion of the quadrangle, the area in the center will be landscaped into a courtyard, Reid said.

Surrounding thebuilding will be green space similar to others on campus for leisure activities.

Future additions to the quadrangle include the connection of the University Honor’s Program to the Living/Learning Center, said Reid.

“What we will do is to connect the two residence halls with a shared academic space,” Reid said.

The idea for the University Honor’s Program has not been scheduled because of financial reasons, said Reid.

According to Reid, $10.7 million  has been allocated for Stage One of the project.

The money was funded through the sale of university bonds which student fees pay.

The delay of Stage Two comes as a result of state legislature funding, which funds all academic buildings.

The long-range plan to build an addition that includes the University Honor’s Program will go into effect after approval is given to commit funds that exceed $10.7 million, said Reid.

According to Reid, if the committee decided to abandon the Living/Learning Center plans, a larger residence hall with more occupancy capabilities could be built for the same amount of money.

“We could change our focus as long as we did not go over our allotted amount of money, but we think that the center is the best plan to use,” Reid said.

Plans for the location of the center are under evaluation, Reid said.

The locations under evaluation are the tennis courts on Bodenheimer Drive and the current location of the Chancellor’s house.

“We’ll have to replace the tennis courts and relocate the Chancellor’s house, and we may find that the sites don’t lend themselves to any of the three components,” said Reid.

Until the opening of the center, Watauga College and the University Honor’s Program will remain in their respective residence halls, Reid said.

Honor’s Program Coordinator Dr. Donald Saunders has concern about the plans for the center.

“(What I am worried about is) whether the program should shape the structure or whether the structure will wind up shaping the program,” said Saunders.

The future Director of Watauga College, Dr. Cynthia Wood, acknowledged that the plans  for the center are in the preliminary stages.

“We envision others in the center besides Watauga College,” said Wood.

“The space might be offered to Latin American studies and possibly freshman learning groups,” she said.

John Robinson, the student representative on the committee from Coffey Hall, expressed student concerns such as accessibility to campus, quality of facilities and the ever present parking problems.

“It is hard to imagine me wanting to step down in the quality of facilities,” Robinson said.

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