For Emory housing, it's in with the new and out with the old.
Emory completed several major housing projects this summer, including the demolition of Trimble Hall and the opening of Hamilton Holmes Residence Hall, Emory's newest freshman housing option. Dobbs Hall also underwent renovations.
The demolition of Trimble Hall – a 61-year-old, three-story residence hall that could house up to 72 students – began in June and ended in in late July, Campus Services Capital Planner Julie Moran said. Any reusable materials were salvaged, making the demolition a summer-long process.
Trimble notoriously contained asbestos, a set of minerals that can cause serious illness including cancer, according to Executive Director of Residence Life and Housing Andrea Trinklein. She said that asbestos is commonly found in older buildings around pipes in mechanical spaces or under old floor covering. It is usually not visible or accessible.
Construction on Hamilton Holmes Hall lasted from January 2011 to July 2012. The residence hall is 37,500 square feet and contains 125 beds.
College freshman Nancy Ejike, who is living in Hamilton Holmes, said that she feels she knows her fellow residents much better because of the hall's small size.
"Because there aren't a lot of people, it feels like a small community," Ejike said. "I think we are much closer than some of the other residence halls."
Hamilton Holmes has sustainable features similar to Few, Evans and Longstreet-Means Halls, including a green roof plaza, a collection of graywater for reuse and green-certified and recycled materials, according to Moran.
Similar to other residence halls, Hamilton Holmes has both double rooms and semi-suites as well as study lounges, Trinklein said. The residence hall has both community bathrooms and private baths.
Hamilton Holmes is the home of the Creativity and Innovation Living-Learning community. This community encourages residents to work to together and shapes leaders with the ability to solve problems in new ways, according to the Living-Learning Communities website.
College freshman and Hamilton Holmes resident Chidimma Egbulem said she is already acquainted with the residence hall's theme. Her floor, which is the sustainability floor, focuses on finding innovative ways to save energy.
Trinklein said she expects students living in Hamilton Holmes to have excellent experiences similar to those in other freshman halls.
"We have provided the environment, and now we want the students to help create the experience, " she said.
Both the demolition of Trimble and completion of Hamilton Holmes fit into Emory's Freshman Housing Master Plan, which includes plans for freshman housing options in the center of campus. Hamilton Holmes was Freshman Phase Four of the housing project. Since Turman Hall opened in 2007, 819 beds have been constructed for freshmen, Trinklein said.
Hamilton Holmes completed the southwest corner of the new Freshman Quadrangle, which Longstreet-Means Hall also borders, Moran explained.
Freshman Phase Five will be located on Trimble's former location, Trinklein said. The Phase Five Residence Hall will complete the northwest corner of the Freshmen Quad, according to the Campus services website. The residence hall will house 341 students in double rooms, semi-suite doubles and singles, according to Trinklein, and the building will have three wings.
In addition, the elevated green roof connected to Longstreet-Means and Hamilton Holmes will also be completed as part of the Freshman Phase Five construction, Trinklein said. The roof contains a rainwater storage system for irrigation purposes.
Moran said foundation work on Freshman Phase Five has already begun. The hall will have a total of 1,123 new freshman beds when Phase Five is completed in 2014, Trinklein said. In the fall of 2014, Dobbs Hall will continue housing freshmen, and Alabama Hall, which currently houses sophomores, will become as freshmen residence hall.
Meanwhile, according to Trinklein, the furniture and sinks in Dobbs Hall were destroyed and replaced. The rooms were painted and received new carpet, and the building now has redesigned lounges, new doors, private bathrooms, sprinklers as well as other changes to its appearance and infrastructure.
College sophomore Berit Reisenauer returned to Dobbs this fall as a sophomore advisor after living in the Dobbs during her freshman year. She said she was very pleased by the improvements.
"Even though it's an older building, it feels like any of the other newer residence halls," Reisenauer said. "But we still have the Dobbs community ... even though it might look a little different."
– By Elizabeth Howell
