Progress on new dorms

[faualum]

Here is the new dorms as of 6/1/07. I think they have torn down more dorms rooms than they have replaced. Does anyone know if that is true?


When I was at FAU, all those new concrete sidewalks by the residence halls would have every name of every student living on campus scratched in it before it dried.





www.fau.edu/housing/NewHall.html

[FAUtuba]

I could be wrong but I think the housing that was there had 500 beds. These towers total to 600.

[owlcountry]

For anyone who doesn't know: the picture is of the new dorm they've been calling FYE or First Year Experience.

That weird name was arrived at somehow by the Housing Office which had previously sent out an email detailing a naming contest for the buidling. I talked to some people who said that they recieved a large number of submissions, including a few Indian names, but none of them seemed to impress the Housing people. It's hard to name a building, I guess. The downside is that the winner was going to get a $500 scholarship. And I don't think it was given out.

Anyway, the FYE dorm is exclusively for freshmen and opens for the Fall 2007 semester. It sits on the land previously occupied by the Timucua dorm. After Algoqnuin is torn down next year (or so they say since they just renovated it into singles), all the small, indian-named dorms will be gone with these 600-bed behemoths in their place.

Such is progress at FAU and we should be happy for it since it improves campus life.

In regards to writing the name in cement, people haven't done that from what I've seen. Also, a little while back they banned the sidewalk painting (for campus organizations), although several people have requested that they do it again -- perhaps for Homecoming. But I don't think it's going to happen for a number of reasons, some aesthetic, some legal, some personal bias.

[Florida_Owl]

what do they call the dorms now, did they do away with the indian na mes for political reasons?

i lived in Sekani, Modoc, and Timuqua while an on campus resident...mostly with a private room though

[owlcountry]

floridaowl said:

what do they call the dorms now, did they do away with the indian na mes for political reasons?

i lived in Sekani, Modoc, and Timuqua while an on campus resident...mostly with a private room though

Private rooms are hard to come by... although you can snag one in the apartments and now, until it's torn down next year, you can get single occupancy in Algonquin.

In response to what they call the dorms now... we have Algonquin, Heritage Park Towers (HPT), Indian River Towers (IRT), and now the new First Year Experience Hall (FYE) which replaced Timucua.

I don't know what became of Sekani or Modoc but the dorms now have a large quad in the middle that has a volleyball court and a BBQ pavillion. We use the Housing Quad, all that open space, for festivals, concerts, and outdoor sports like kickball and ultimate frisbee.

Why they did away with the indian names I'm not sure but from talking to students who work in Housing, those people have no imagination or desire to deviate from the norm... which explains Indian River Towers... towers on Indian River Street.

[Lm77]

FAU prepares to open a 600-bed residence hall just for freshmen

[owlcountry]

lm77 said:

FAU prepares to open a 600-bed residence hall just for freshmen

'Glades Park Towers', the name that's going to be presented to the BOT for an official decision, is a pretty dumb name. Heritage Park Towers makes sense because it's next to Heritage Park. There is no Glades Park.

FYE was much better if for no other reason than it was unique. It's a unique building in terms of its purpose... so it SHOULD have a unique name.

I especially like how they collected names from students then disregarded them completely. I heard that Housing collected the names and then broke up into sub-committees to vote on them. A week or so later when they met again, nobody had voted on them.

Sound like FAU to you?

[owlcountry]

And WHY DON'T ANY OF THE BUILDINGS HAVE PITCHED ROOFS?

They look like office buildings for crying out loud.

[BMarkey]

Here's a new dorm with pitched roofs.



Troy is opening three of these (apartment style with kitchens) buildings this fall. They were built in eight months.

I find it odd that FAU can be called a "commuter" school with 3,000 or so students living on campus, while Troy has about the same amount on campus, yet has never been described in that way.

[illinoisowl]

I find it odd that FAU can be called a "commuter" school with 3,000 or so students living on campus, while Troy has about the same amount on campus, yet has never been described in that way.

Because Troy was founded in 1887 as a Normal School and has a long long history in Alabama and the south. FAU is a little over 40 years old and is situated in a very populated area and can draw most of its students from the immediate area.

Actually when I attended in the 70s, it wasn't refered to as a commuter school. About 16% of the students lived on campus at that time. It may have been a commuter school but the term was never used.

[owlcountry]

bmarkey said:

Here's a new dorm with pitched roofs.



Troy is opening three of these (apartment style with kitchens) buildings this fall. They were built in eight months.

I find it odd that FAU can be called a "commuter" school with 3,000 or so students living on campus, while Troy has about the same amount on campus, yet has never been described in that way.

It would be beautiful if FAU could build this exact thing when they demolish the current Village Apartments. Actually, I'm going to print this out and give it to Tony Texeira for his next meeting with Tom Donaudy, the University Architect. We'll ask him to build the FAU version of this and see what he says.

The only thing is: I think they want to go taller than four stories. That and the visual style would have to be more similar to our campus (meaning pastel colors and probably red clay tile roofs)

Outside of that, I think this would really draw people in. I'd actually like to see the Village Apartments be on both sides of the parking lotto sort of close it in as a mini-"neighborhood".

[Florida_Owl]

that whole aprtment thing was a distater...legally and from a construction standpoint...not to mention they dont look very eye appealing either...

the building abouve is beautiful.......

[illinoisowl]

Are there plans to demolish the apartments? How old are they? I know they can't be too old.

[owlcountry]

illinoisowl said:

Are there plans to demolish the apartments? How old are they? I know they can't be too old.

They're not as old as, say, Alognquin, but they're old enough and in so-so shape. I thought I read a review of facilities on-campus that recommended they be demolished... but I could be mistaken. I'll try to find it again.

So I haven't read anything official about demolishing the apartments -- just talk going around.

The last rumor I heard is that they did a space utilization analysis and found that the apartments put very few people in a large amount of space and when they redo it they'll build up instead of out.

That being said, I don't think it's in the very near future because the Innovation Village project will hopefully introduce 2-3k more beds, so with all that extra residential space it will be pretty difficult to argue (right now, anyway) that we need to demolish the apartments and build new ones.

Actually, according to one of the Innovation Village plans:

"Housing needs by the year 2010 are projected to exceed four thousand new beds. Future housing needs need to allow for freshman housing as well as accommodating to faculty and staff."

4000 + 2400 currently on campus = at least 6400 people.

So maybe sooner than later?

It especially makes sense to redo the village apartments because they'll be an eye sore compared to the new hospital that will be built across the street from them.

We'll see how it goes. If I hear anything I'll let you know.

[owlfan1]

I was on campus last year and one thing that I noticed is that is doesn't look like a university campus as much as a business park. The buildings completely lack character. Everything looks so sanitized and pristine and not in a good way.

GO OWLS!!!