Newsroom
Oxy Breaks Ground on Residence Hall
Occidental trustees and administrators broke ground Jan. 17 for the College’s largest-ever residence hall – a 273-bed structure being built near the corner of Rangeview Avenue and Avenue 49 on the south side of campus.
It will be the College’s 12th student residence hall.
The four-story building, which will stand on the site of the Rangeview Avenue tennis courts, is expected to open in January 2008. The still-unnamed hall is the first student residence built in 20 years and will help meet student demand for on-campus housing – demand that has stretched existing capacity to the limit and produced a waiting list each summer. In particular, the new hall will make it possible to move more juniors and seniors back on campus. Roughly 70 percent of the student body currently lives in student residence halls.
The design by MVE Institutional of Irvine echoes Myron Hunt’s original designs for the campus, with a tile roof, stucco exterior, and internal courtyards, as well as a number of classroom/multipurpose rooms. Multi-level parking is tucked underneath the building.
The new hall will be built according to Leadership in Engineering and Environmental Design standards, developed by the U.S. Green Building Council to promote sustainable development that reduces energy and water use, incorporates recycled content, and improves indoor environmental quality.
Funding comes from revenue bonds issued by the College last year. Two of the three tennis courts now on the site will have to be relocated to meet NCAA requirements; the new master plan approved by the Board of Trustees on Dec. 6 calls for the two new courts to be built adjacent to the existing courts on the north side of Patterson Field.