Student Village 2 seeks approval
New dorm scheduled for completion in 2008
University officials took the first step towards constructing a new student residence last night, as the first Boston University Community Task Force meeting for the second Student Village apartment complex — or StuVi 2, as planners have nicknamed it — was held.
Representatives from the Office of Government and Community Affairs, the University’s Space Planning and Major Construction Offices, the Boston Redevelopment Authority, and the architectural firm Cannon Design were on hand to discuss the plans for the new building, which will house 962 students in a 26-story structure behind Agganis Arena.
The new residence is part of a long-planned development on the Student Village site, and now that 75 percent of the undergraduate population lives in on-campus housing, says Marc Robillard, director of the Office of Housing, the need is critical.
“This year, 200 students will apply to live on campus that I cannot take care of,” he says. “That happened last fall, and it will repeat itself. There’s a lot of demand, and not enough space.”
The new building is a single unit divided into two sections, or towers, of four-person apartments and eight-person suites. The options are designed to appeal to both juniors and seniors, who often want apartments with kitchens, as well as sophomores — who, according to Robillard, have fewer on-campus options that meet their needs.
“When you’re transitioning from freshman year to sophomore year, you still have a social need, and your group of friends isn’t down to just one or two people that you want to live with,” he says. “We’re looking to build suite accommodations that would house eight students, with two full bathrooms and a living room, so that we can keep these larger groups intact.”
The south tower, which holds the suite apartments, contains approximately 540 beds and is 19 stories; the north tower, at 26 stories, has approximately 420 beds, with an event and activity center on the 26th floor.
Common space — which some residence halls have had to reduce in order to keep up with demands for housing — is a priority in the plans: the second floor will have wireless Internet access and contain study spaces and possibly music-practice rooms, and the first floor will have a Live-Learn facility, where the Office of Residence Life can hold programming for students living there or in any on-campus housing.
The Boston Redevelopment Authority, which approved the University’s initial plans for the Student Village in 1987, will be reviewing the plans for Student Village 2. Construction is expected to begin after Commencement, and the target date for completion is September 2008.