The new East Campus residence hall, which will be located between Randolph Dormitory and Broad Street, is on schedule to open for incoming freshmen by Fall 2005.
A steel frame and a preliminary layout of the cinderblock skeleton are the newest additions to the constant buzzing around the construction of the new dorm on East Campus.
The residence hall, which will be located between Randolph Dormitory and Broad Street, is on schedule to open for incoming freshmen by Fall 2005. The dorm will also be the new site for the 93-year-old Trinity College bell, which is now located behind Brodie Recreation Center; officials said the new site will allow for the bell to be showcased more prominently.
In order to increase the overall safety of the area, the dorm will play host to a Duke University Police Department substation on its ground level. In addition to the substation, classroom and laundry facilities will constitute the entry level. Dorm rooms and apartments for the faculty-in-residence and residential coordinator will be on the second, third and fourth floors.
The four-story residence hall will be similar in style to Randolph and Blackwell with a brick exterior and breezeway, although dorm room walls will be made of dry-wall rather than cinderblock.
The introduction of the new $20 million East Campus residence hall became necessary once University officials announced plans in late 2003 to increase enrollment in the Pratt School of Engineering by 200 students. Fidelia Thomason, director of residence hall operations, said the Pratt expansion was the “primary motivator” for constructing the new building. The new dorm will cost $7 million more than the construction budgets for the Blackwell and Randolph dorms.
Plans for the residence hall—which will include 66 double rooms averaging 220 square feet each and six single rooms—do not include the construction of its own parking lot. Greg Lefeld, production manager of the building’s construction, noted however, that a pedestrian bridge will be built, spanning from the second level of the dorm to Randolph dorm, facilitating access to the parking lot outside Brodie.
Although the new residence hall will be the only dorm to boast four floors on East Campus, as well as the only one to have a police substation, University officials hope it will offer a similar residential life experience as the other dorms.
“We always want there to be a seamless whole where academic and residential life can flourish together,” Thomason said, noting the presence of a faculty-in-residence and residential coordinator on the third and fourth floors.
Residents of Randolph and Southgate dorms, who are most drastically affected by the construction, maintain that although they acknowledge the addition will be necessary due to the Pratt enrollment expansion, construction has had its inconveniences.
“I’m woken up every morning by the sound of construction,” freshman Snapper Underwood said. “It’s become my alarm clock.”
Lefeld noted that construction workers have tried to keep noise to a minimum, and residents have remained understanding.
“It’s not pretty during the day, and if I’m trying to study outside the noise can be an inconvenience,” freshman Susie Wallingford admitted. “I’m not one to complain though, because I’m sure [the new dorm] will be a nice addition to the University.”
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