Residential planning committee established to plan dormitory renovation

One of Wellesley's most stunning features is its elegant architecture. First designed by Boston's preeminent landscape architect Frederick Olmstead, the campus' architecture and layout has generally received high applaud and appreciation throughout the years by college rankings, students, faculty and visitors to the campus.

The one caveat to this virtue, however, is that the buildings' interiors are as just as old as their beautiful outsides. This particular quality  can be quaint  but for everyday living it can be a little inappropriate or inconvenient at times.

"The basement [of Cazenove] is scary," said Ky Deng '14, a current resident. "There's an ancient-looking window that shows your reflection when it's dark outside," adding to the generally eerie atmosphere created by the aged structure of the building, she remarked.

Many Pomeroy students have also complained about the massive amounts of dust that appeared out of nowhere in their dorms over winter break. "You have to sweep or vacuum the floor and dust off surfaces once a week, because dust accumulates really fast," asserted Melissa Williams '14.

According to Director of Residential and Campus Life Kris Niendorf, the College has formed a campus-wide committee that is currently in the pre-planning phase for renovating all residential halls and academic buildings. Dean of Students Debra DeMeis will chair the committee. However, "We are still at least a year away from looking at the funding for this project," Niendorf clarified.

"We've hired an architect[ural] firm to take a look at our ideas and then to study the halls to determine whether they are feasible," she added. Niendorf expects the execution of the committee's new vision to take place within one academic year.

According to Niendorf, the campus-wide planning committee is at such early stages that "none of the students [currently enrolled at the College] will see the changes that result from our current pre-planning."

Besides the office of Residential and Campus Life and the architectural firm currently involved, representatives from the Student Organizations and Appointments Committee (SOAC) will also sit on the committee to give student input. "We will constantly go back to students whenever we have more questions to ask," said Niendorf, who reported that last spring the committee received input from council meetings from each neighborhood on campus – that is, the Tower Complex, the Hazard Quad, and the East Side.

"Our goal is to focus on three samples, [one] from each [of Wellesley's neighborhoods,]" said SOAC Appointments Coordinator Barbara Jiang '13. The committee has chosen to examine Cazenove from the Quad, Bates from the East Side, and Tower from its eponymous complex.

"Even though we'll be graduated by the time the renovations begin and are completed, it's still our school," said Jiang. "Students should still be interested in how it's going to change, and whenever we come back it will be just as beautiful as we remembered it."