Residence Life and Housing Plan Major Changes
New dorms and amenities are rising up behind D and W at the Hive, which means these two first-year dorms will soon be closing for the summer before being demolished altogether.
Jason Rigsbee, associate dean of students and director of residence life and housing at SCAD, said the dining hall at the Hive will only be temporarily shut down for the summer. “It’s not typical from other summers,” Rigsbee said. “Certainly with the construction we’re not having anybody stay in that area, but for the summers we do kind of rotate around where summer school is, so some cases that’s been in Oglethorpe House and then J.O.’s is the dining hall for the summer.”
This summer, students will be placed in Montgomery Hall with the Byte open for meal plans, Rigsbee said. “So it won’t impact any operation or limit the amount of housing or opportunities, but we’re just utilizing the other resources while they finish up the Hive area, so it minimizes any impact or disruption to students while that continued construction finishes up,” Rigsbee said.
According to Rigsbee, all construction is set to be completed by fall quarter.
“The buildings will kind of come on line through different periods throughout the summer in terms of how they finish,” Rigsbee said. “But everything will be up and running for fall – so all three of the new residence halls, C, D, and E, and then the pool area with clubhouse – will be open for 2016, as well as the dining hall will be back open.”
Both D and W are scheduled to be demolished this summer with a new parking structure expected to come up in the area where D is currently located. The new parking structure will be similar to that in Montgomery Hall, Rigsbee explained.
“And then we’ll have offices, residence life, student media, additional dining and community programming space for students in the Hive area, and that parking lot at least portion is expected to come on line during winter quarter, probably in February,” Rigsbee said. “For next year, everything will be all three new buildings and H will be freshmen housing along with Turner House, so in the Hive, they’ll have the four person units and then in Turner it’ll still be triple occupancy.”
The three new dorms will have identical layouts to H at the Hive, the first new building in the Hive complex, which opened in fall 2015, including the same room and floor setups with additional color and decoration variations.
In terms of furniture, the new residence halls will feature a similar style to those used in Montgomery Hall. Wireless access will be available in all laundry facilities and individual study and group spaces will be offered on floors one through four. Rigsbee said the new dorms will also feature community spaces located on the lower level of the dorms. In an effort to cater to the needs of students and advisors, this space can be utilized for various meeting and study purposes.
For Rigsbee, the exciting part of this process is the attention SCAD housing and residence life are receiving from both students and the school itself.
“I mean, certainly SCAD every year is looking at how it expands academics,” Rigsbee said. “You see projects, renovations, new majors, new facilities – you always see activity from the academic perspective – and I think that same level of attention is happening in the residence halls. So for us, the excitement is those spaces are matching student expectations and it gives us a great opportunity where all of our freshmen, ultimately when it’s all said and done, will be at one location that will be a vibrant hub of campus. So that there is that community experience that exists by everyone around and having those common amenities. I think that’s an exciting piece.”
Rigsbee views the new housing project as the perfect marriage of inspiration and opportunities, because of its prime location and abundance of accessible opportunities and resources for students. He wants to reassure students living in the residence halls over the summer need not worry about the closure of the Hive. The Oglethorpe House ballroom will be utilized as a second, short term dining option for summer school students. This will enhance the ballroom space and provide students eating at J.O.’s with more room to feel at home, Rigsbee said.
“The closing of the Hive will have zero impact in terms of any experience that we typically provide over the summer,” Rigsbee said.
Written by Emilie Kefalas.
