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Resident hall earns honorary facelift |
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Tuesday, 29 January 2008 |
 | Wright
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by BRANDON BROWN
News Reporter
Appalachian State University is in the feasibility stage of a plan to create a new honors complex that includes a new residence hall, renovations to Cone Residence Hall and additional academic facilities.
The proposal calls for the U-shaped complex to be situated on Brown Street and to serve as a connector between the new buildings, said Dr. Tommy Wright, interim director of Housing and Residence Life.
“We hope to gain roughly 200 [housing] spaces in the project,” Wright said.
The new honors complex would require the razing of Coffey Hall.
Cone Hall, which houses about 300 students, would lose some rooms with the planned renovations due
to restructuring that would allow more natural light to enter the building, Wright said.
The preliminary plan for the construction of the new residence hall and academic spaces estimates the
buildings would total about 100,000 square feet, Wright said.
The Board of Trustees is currently waiting for the price per square foot before entering the design
phase of the project.
Planning for the new residence hall includes mostly “semi-suites” like those in Newland Residence Hall
and a few “suites” per floor with a common living area, as in Appalachian Heights, Wright said.
With on-campus residents accounting for less than 40 percent of Appalachian State students, the new
residence plan will hopefully address the need for housing space on-campus, said Peter Vandenberg,
assistant director of Housing and Residence Life.
The new residence hall will be the first building on campus to be granted Leadership in Energy and
Environmental Design [LEED] certification, Vandenberg said.
According to the U.S. Green Building Council, LEED certification lowers operating costs by reducing
waste and conserving energy while creating a healthier and safer environment for occupants.
The honors learning space is outlined to have four “smart” classrooms, offering modern technology and
the ability to handle double the size of the current honors-class size, Wright said.
The Housing and Residence Life is an auxiliary unit to Appalachian that is funded from student housing
fees, Wright said.
“All of the money [for the project] comes from Housing and Residence Life,” Wright said. “Part of the
student rent increase goes into a savings reserve account, allowing [Housing and Residence Life] to
lend less.”
Though the proposition is informally called the Honors Complex, the facility is also expected to house
Plemmons Fellows and other students in leadership positions, Vandenberg said.
Wright said though the proposal is very thorough, the plan is “certainly still preliminary.”
Students will have to wait for the formalities to unfold before construction is slated to begin.
“It will be – at the earliest – summer of 2009 before we get to swing a hammer,” said Vandenberg.
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