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Beyond the Dorm Room
The University is planning an innovative residential housing design to meet the needs of all students
by Allie Grasgreen | News Reporter
When the Oregon State Board of Higher Education approved the Westmoreland property sale in July 2006, there was one stipulation: the University had to design a new housing plan to fit the needs of all students.
"This study is intentionally comprehensive," said University Planning Associate Christine Thompson. "It is not a study of residence halls (or) graduate housing. That's the big difference of this study versus other improvements and things that have been done in the past."
Seven months after the approval, Phase 1 of the Housing Strategic Plan is complete and the Housing Strategic Planning Group is preparing to begin Phase 2.
"No commitments have been made because we're working to design what the best investment of those dollars will be," said Frances Dyke, Vice President of Finance and Administration. "We're in the early stages of making those plans."
The group hopes to figure out what exactly is the best next step for University students in need of campus housing.
"We hope to identify what are the trends of housing on University campuses and particularly those with our peers and competitors, and how does that relate to what the University of Oregon goals would be with regards to housing," said Thompson.
And if University Housing wants to remain competitive (and judging by the Housing Strategic Plan's statement that housing should be used as a student recruiting tool, it does), identification of those trends is critical.
All-inclusive lifestyle housing has become a big draw for potential college students.
The Chronicle of Higher Education last week ran a feature on the new, innovative residence halls at Universities all over the nation. These buildings are becoming more than just a place for students to live: They are becoming a lifestyle of their own.
The feature included a story about the Living-Learning Center, whose designers took a new residential approach in "creating a student culture of learning and scholarship," according to the planning committee.
"This study is intentionally comprehensive," said University Planning Associate Christine Thompson. "It is not a study of residence halls (or) graduate housing. That's the big difference of this study versus other improvements and things that have been done in the past."
Seven months after the approval, Phase 1 of the Housing Strategic Plan is complete and the Housing Strategic Planning Group is preparing to begin Phase 2.
"No commitments have been made because we're working to design what the best investment of those dollars will be," said Frances Dyke, Vice President of Finance and Administration. "We're in the early stages of making those plans."
The group hopes to figure out what exactly is the best next step for University students in need of campus housing.
"We hope to identify what are the trends of housing on University campuses and particularly those with our peers and competitors, and how does that relate to what the University of Oregon goals would be with regards to housing," said Thompson.
And if University Housing wants to remain competitive (and judging by the Housing Strategic Plan's statement that housing should be used as a student recruiting tool, it does), identification of those trends is critical.
All-inclusive lifestyle housing has become a big draw for potential college students.
The Chronicle of Higher Education last week ran a feature on the new, innovative residence halls at Universities all over the nation. These buildings are becoming more than just a place for students to live: They are becoming a lifestyle of their own.
The feature included a story about the Living-Learning Center, whose designers took a new residential approach in "creating a student culture of learning and scholarship," according to the planning committee.
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