Models give glimpse of future dorm rooms

Thursday, April 23, 1998

Models give glimpse of future dorm rooms

HOUSING: Better lighting, more closet space part

of planned improvements

By Ann Hawkey

Daily Bruin Contributor

As the elevator doors open onto Hedrick’s third floor, you know
you’re not in just any dorm. Smiling faces and balloons provide a
warm welcome to the Office of Residential Life’s (ORL) "Better
Rooms and Gardens" event, which opened to the public the remodeled
dorm rooms of the future.

Monday and Tuesday night, students were invited to wander in and
out of three rooms, comparing and critiquing the new designs of
each. Differences ranged from closet space to lighting style and
opinions varied accordingly.

The three rooms, assigned to residents at random, provide
students with a view of possible designs for future dorm
renovations. By 1999, several rooms will have been remodeled.
Eventually, ORL plans to implement the changes throughout all of
the high rise dorms and apartments.

"It has its good points and its bad points," said David Kitani,
resident of model room number 315. "It’s very aesthetically
pleasing."

When the students moved in during September, the three rooms
were mostly completed. Workers finished Room 313 during winter
vacation and Room 315 over the course of a weekend while the
residents went home.

Kitani’s room features a wood finished closet on either side of
the room, each with two spaces for hanging clothes and a section
with drawers and shelves. A second row of cupboards sits above
this, using the wall space to the ceiling. Despite the extra
closets, Kitani said the storage space does not noticeably
increase.

The closets next door in Room 313 have a similar appearance but
have two larger sections rather than three smaller ones. The
closets are also designed with the higher storage space but some
visitors didn’t think those would be useful.

"What are they thinking, putting closets way up there?" said
Stevi Benton, a first-year pre-cognitive sciences student. "Unless
you’re 6-foot-3, you can’t even reach it with a chair."

Joyce Leung, who lives in Room 313, also found that the new
closets use a lot of floor space in the room. "There’s really no
room for a TV or refrigerator," said Leung. "The way the closets
are arranged they take up too much space."

Although the closets may use more space than the standard
closets now in most dorm rooms, students agreed that the wood
finish, combined with newly painted walls and color coordinated
bulletin boards, improved the overall look of the room.

"It just looks good. It looks like a hotel," said Becky Jeng, a
first-year biology student.

For students who felt the closets used too much space, the third
model room had standard closets, but bulletin boards similar to the
other model rooms, newly painted walls and a different lighting
scheme.

"The other rooms are totally dark; this one is lit. That’s the
major difference," said Brad Schaefer, resident of Room 311.

In addition to the new closets, lighting was an important aspect
that ORL wanted to consider when looking at possible improvements
to the dorm rooms.

"We knew we were going to replace the closet," said Angela
Marciano, special projects manager for ORL. "We were also going to
do something with the lights to make them more ambient and better
for studying."

Marciano, who planned the event with the help of Hedrick
Resident Director Delaphine Prysock, wanted to use the event as an
opportunity to get student feedback.

Marciano and Prysock tried to boost attendance to the event by
offering refreshments and entertainment, including karaoke and
"build your own plant."

"The best we can hope for is people, particularly from the high
rises, to come and give us feedback," said Marciano. "A lot of this
is going to help us further define a prototype."

Judging from the 516 surveys received, Marciano feels the
response thus far has been good.

Judging from the residents, the response also has been positive.
"I think it looks really nice," said Oscar Gutierrez, who lives in
Room 315 with Kitani. "I like it so much I’m going to come back
next year."

DAVID HILL

Students view remodeled rooms in Hedrick Hall. Student feedback
will help determine how future dorm rooms will look.