The committee leading the $35.9 million demolition of Ogg Hall and building of two new dormitories announced Thursday the new dorm will have features unlike any of the other university residence halls.
\Each house will consist of 40 students rather than the traditional 64,"" said Del Wilson, chairman of Uihlein Wilson Architects, which is in charge of the project. ""There will be four-room clusters that share one common bathroom.""
Wilson said housing staff will continue to clean the cluster bathrooms, so a common bathroom will be provided for every house in order to give students a place to shower while housing is cleaning.
According to Paul Evans, director of UW-Madison housing, safety was also a major consideration in the design plan. He said the number of doors was left at two in order to control the movement of students, especially on high-traffic weekends like Halloween.
Brought on by numerous incidents that could have been prevented by locking dorm room doors, updated door locks are another major inclusion in the plan.
""With the new card-locks,"" Evans said, ""it will be impossible to close the door without it locking behind you.""
Consideration was given to the privacy of future residents when considering the placement of cameras.
""The decision to keep cameras off of the elevators ... was an attempt not to cross that fine line between privacy and safety,"" said Mark Roessler, head of capital projects for housing.
The environmental impact statement said the planned site for the new dorms is on the corner of Park Street and Dayton Street. The site is currently home to the green space that holds sand volleyball courts and grass playing fields.
The dorm building project will leave outdoor sport enthusiasts without a place to play for a projected period of about three years.
""The dorms currently under construction at the Park Street site will be completed in the fall of 2006, the Park and Dayton site it to be completed in the fall of 2007, and the new green space will be ready in 2008,"" said Del Wilson.
The committee held the public hearing about the residence hall at Gordon Commons. The hearing was held in order to comply with the Wisconsin Environmental Policy Act implimentation guidelines for the
UW system.
