“The Hill” prepares for new housing and facilities for undergraduates
As part of the ongoing quest to make UCLA a more residential campus, Housing and Hospitality Services is gearing up for four years of construction to build four new residence halls that will accommodate an additional 1,500 students.
The project will also feature a new dining hall, exercise room, and a large multi-purpose room with meeting space.
The $375 million construction project is slated for completion in 2013.
The goal is to be able to house two-thirds of the undergraduate population on campus, up from about half today and about a third 15 years ago, said Peter Angelis, the assistant vice chancellor of Housing and Hospitality Services.
"By 2013, two-thirds of our undergrads will live on campus or within walking distance," he said. "That will have a huge impact not only on the environment and UCLA's carbon footprint, but also on the number of car trips into campus. I think you'll see fewer and fewer cars commuting into campus."
With 1,500 more beds, he believes UCLA can hike its housing guarantees to four years instead of three for incoming students, and two years instead of one for transfers. New housing will also cut back on the number of double rooms being used as triples. Almost 90 percent of freshmen are in doubles-turned-triples, as are about two-thirds of all on-campus undergrads.
"This will be one of the bigger projects on campus," Angelis said. "But going back to the '30s, there's been continuous development and growth on the campus. This is just a continuation of that history." Bruins wandering on the hill might notice some surveying of the site going on this year before construction formally begins in May 2009. That's when the area south of Sproul Hall will become ground zero for the installation of utilities such as gas, water and electricity, he explained.
Minimizing the impact on student life
The massive building project will be undertaken while being mindful of controlling the impact on student living and learning.
"We have an experienced team in place to mitigate the inconveniences," Angelis said.
Mapping out the Hill's future
The building plan includes a nine-story upper DeNeve hall and a seven-story lower DeNeve hall, which will go up near Gayley Avenue and west of the current cluster of residence halls around DeNeve Plaza. A nine-story Sproul west building will sprout up between Rieber Hall and the Sproul turnaround, and a nine-story Sproul south will be built on the site of the to-be-demolished Office of Residential Life (ORL).
ORL's demolition will come hot on the heels of the staff's permanent move in late 2009 to new offices on the second and third floors of the Bradley International Center. Some parking space below the Housing Administration offices will also be demolished to make way for the new residence halls. The $375 million cost will be covered by student housing fees and summer conferences on the hill.
At the same time, Housing and Hospitality will also continue rotating closures and renovations of the 800-bed towers. Rieber Hall is currently closed, and will be followed by Hedrick and Dykstra halls. The towers are all slated to be opened by 2013 as well.
Because there have been many projects on the hill already, many staff and faculty already know the drill, Angelis said. "We'll obviously enhance safety training regarding the construction as this gets closer," he noted.