Ohio University is not alone in preparing to reconstruct South Green with the Housing Development Plan; it is following a trend of renovating and constructing across the state.
By the end of the 10-year plan, South Green will include larger residence halls that will hold 200-300 students each, with a field space, extended bus routes and no catwalks, said Ryan Lombardi, vice president for Student Affairs.
The ultimate goal is to bring academics closer to dorms.
“We want these places that we live to be learning centers,” Lombardi said, adding he hopes to build classrooms within the residence halls.
Wright State University built its newest residence hall, an honors hall, to have similar integration of academics and residential life, Wright State’s director of Residence Life and Housing Dan Bertsos said.
The hall, which can hold 400 students, features a fitness center, convenience store, classrooms and a computer lab. Wright State is one of the first two schools in the United States to privatize on-campus housing, Bertsos said.
“It’s almost self-contained,” he said.
Wright State students are not required to live on campus their freshman year, Bertsos said. All of the university’s residence halls are financed by A.M. Management, Inc., a housing developer that formed a privatization agreement with the university 27 years ago.
Miami University is in the middle of the “Miami Makeover,” which will construct four new residence halls and renovate every current residence hall with the exception of one apartment complex in the next 20 years, according to the university’s Housing and Dining Master Plan.
The $436 million housing plan will focus on improving basic systems, such as heating and cooling, while housing the same number of students as it currently does.
Ohio State University, on the other hand, recently built a new dorm and renovated two existing dorms to fit more students, said David Isaacs, OSU’s Communications and Media Relations manager.
The new dorms feature study lounges and open passageways to facilitate relationships between students, Isaacs said.
“It’s a much more open group setting than just an old hallway,” he said.
When OU gets closer to renovating South Green, Lombardi said there would be more detailed focus groups requesting student opinions. From initial focus groups from the past two years, mod-style apartments will be considered for use to build a community atmosphere.
“We’ve thought how we can build some elements that have that kind of community building function,” Lombardi said.
dk123111@ohiou.edu
