Earlier today, UW Housing held an event in Claudette Millar Hall (CMH) where students were able to provide feedback on plans for a new residence building. The planned location for the building is in parking lot A across from CMH. There will be one bridge connecting the new building to CMH and a second bridge connecting the new building to Carl Pollock Hall (CPH).
Raven Urbanowicz, project coordinator for facilities renewal and capital planning, has been working as part of the new residence planning team to collect feedback from various voices on campus. “We’re bringing it to students to see a new concept design so we’ve talked to campus housing, we’ve talked to campus partners, as well, and some student focus groups about amenities that we want to include and kind of the layout for what we want to achieve with this building,” she said.
Students like Spencer Eng, a 1B architectural engineering student, were excited by the possibility of having more residence options. “I think there’s definitely a need for new housing,” he said. “I feel like everyone’s fighting for CMH right now, and that’s the one everyone wants so I feel like if there’s another one that’s new and modern and near then I feel like that’s definitely a need.”
Adriana Ceric, a 2B civil engineering student, experienced a similar thrill when she first saw the rendering for the new residence building on the UW Campus Housing Instagram page. “I was really excited because I’m really interested in affordable housing. Since I’m in civil engineering, I love seeing new developments around the city.” She also appreciated how UW campus housing was incorporating feedback from engineering students into the new residence plan. “[For me,] this one is really sparking an interest because it’s kind of taking some unused space and making it more wheelchair-accessible with elevators,” she added.
Ceric is looking forward to having a new residence building, ideally soon. “I’m hoping it comes to life in the next two to three years hopefully, and [that] I see it before I graduate. I’m really excited for this, I feel like having upper-year residences really close to transit and the main campus is really good,” she said.
Brayden Petersen, a 1B systems design engineering student, expressed a similar desire for on-campus housing options that are closer to campus itself. “A lot of my friends that have been cast away to the villages have really felt kind of alienated on campus [physically] but also from the quality of the buildings. There’s a huge discrepancy [between different residences],” he said. “I’m really lucky to live in CMH because my friends have to live so far in REV in maybe not the best living conditions.”
Petersen also expressed some critiques over the current rendering’s plans for bikers like him. “I’m a big cyclist [so] the Bike Room could be a lot bigger because I feel like with the improvements that the city is making to cycling[…], I think that’s a super important thing. Cycling is the fastest way to see the city, and I don’t think enough people get off campus to see the city and everything it has to offer.”
Overall, he stressed the need for more student housing options as well as his general support of the current plan for the new residence building. “I like what I see so far. This is pretty early and still up-in-the-air.”
