Four firms compete to design new dorm
Four architecture firms will submit design plans for a new University of Iowa residence hall Sept. 23, and officials will announce their choice soon after.
Each group will be given roughly an hour to show how it would develop the space and which of two possible sites it would chose, said Chris Ashley, the design project manager for Facilities Management.
UI spokesman Tom Moore said officials don't know when they'll announce their pick.
The proposed hall will be built on the West Campus, in one of two spots between Hillcrest and Quadrangle residence halls, Ashley said. The building will have somewhere between 250 and 400 new beds and will cost anywhere from $20 million to $32 million.
The four finalists selected for the project are: InVision of Cedar Falls, OPN Architects of Cedar Rapids, Rohrback Associates of Iowa City, and Scholtz, Gowey, Gere, and Marlof of Davenport.
InVision is no stranger to the UI — the group designed the Art Building West and Dental Science Building. It has also worked at numerous other universities, including Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa.
OPN has also designed several buildings on the UI campus, including the Adler Journalism Building.
Rohrback designed the recent Burge Hall addition, and it has been involved in other renovation projects at the UI.
Scholtz, et al., have built 10 residence halls in Iowa and Illinois over the last 12 years.
Officials won't implement a tuition increase to fund the project, which will be financed through selling bonds, said Director of University Housing Von Stange.
However, the cost of room and board may increase once the project is completed in 2013, he said.
In addition to more beds, Ashley said, the new dorm will likely have at least one academic seminar room, lounges, and a snacking option.
University officials is hoping that the new dorm is just the start, with a master plan calling for 800 new beds total.
But those plans do not help the 130 students currently in temporary housing.
The UIalso admitted more international students, which bothers Mike Wang, a freshman from China living in temporary housing.
"If you do not have enough dorms for that, you cannot give that much admission to international students, because we are equal," he said. "Why do some students live in regular dorms, and we live in temporary dorms?"
While it appears temporary housing will remain for the near future, officials said they're excited about the prospect of a new dorm.
"Based on the growth of the university, it is placing us in a good position to construct something to help our students," Stange said.
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