BY: Jon Stroshine, News Co-Editor, jon_stroshine@taylor.edu
PUB: Sept. 7, 2012
A pool. A river. A view of the sunset over a lake. Sound like a tropical getaway? Actually, starting next fall, it will be part of Taylor's campus.
Preparation has begun for a new dormitory set to open fall semester of 2013, featuring several exterior water-based landscape features.
"It is . . . going to be a great addition to what I think is a critical program for Taylor: residential education," said Skip Trudeau, Dean of Students. "It really fits our model."
Taylor's Board of Trustees approved the resolution Aug. 23 to move forward with the project, and that decision was confirmed by Taylor administration Aug. 30, according to Ron Sutherland, Vice President of Business Administration.
Faculty members said the hall is being built partially because of growth in student
population, but also because of Taylor's vision for housing.
"It's really because of our residential philosophy," Sutherland said. "It's that desire to have this intentional community that keeps juniors engaged with sophomores and freshmen."
The new hall will be located west of Gerig, extending south. An atrium will connect Gerig and the new dorm, which currently does not have a name.
The building will have the capacity for 150 students and be made up of two-thirds female students and one-third male students.
"We have the largest freshman class in the history of Taylor University coming in, and the housing crunch is even tighter," Trudeau said. "(There are) some good reasons to believe this growth was fairly sustainable . . . , and so the future became much more present."
Trees and other growth have previously occupied the space planned for the dorm. Work began this week to clear the vegetation so construction can begin.
That work will reveal a stream, now aided by water from Euler Science Complex's geothermal output. The stream will be partially dammed to create a pool outside the new hall.
"It's gonna be one of the big pop-and-sizzle features of the new residence hall," Trudeau said. "It's also going to be a benefit to Gerig and English, kinda that whole far-south housing complex."
The work has been given to Ohio company Touchstone Contractors, who will be working with Fanning Howey as their architect.
Administrators say that the project, estimated to cost $10 million, will be paid for with a combination of money the university has on hand and student revenue.
"The administration strongly believes that students living on campus, that's the real core of . . . (the) full-depth experience that Taylor has to offer," said Stephen Olson, Vice President for Finance. "The reality of having a hundred and fifty more beds means that a hundred fifty more students will be impacted in that way."
Olson estimated that 35 percent of the building project would be paid for from money Taylor has in savings. The remainder of the costs of construction, as well as the costs of running the building, will come from revenue brought in by additional students living in the dorm.
Trudeau said students from Gerig initially voiced concerns about increasing the size of their dorm, leading the administration to focus on giving the new building a new identity.
"Gerig's got a good thing going," Trudeau said. "We want to enhance that, but we don't want to change that."
