The changes seen on Livingston campus in the past year are only the beginnings of a complete transformation the University has planned.
Residence Life hosted a town hall meeting last night in Lucy Stone Hall on Livingston campus to give students the opportunity to view the new plans — which include three new residence halls holding 1,500 beds primarily for graduate students — first-hand from Luis Bernardo, a design partner with Design Collective and one of the main architects of the master plan.
“One of the things [Design Collective] found [when working with other schools] … is most of the time when you do student housing it’s because you need it desperately. It doesn’t matter where it goes, it’s just housing,” Bernardo said. “This campus is completely different. [The University] actually views the housing as an opportunity to transform this campus, to make this campus a place where people want to be 24/7.”
The project, set to begin early next fall and end around August 2012, will cost about $140 million, he said.
Only 15 percent of the campus is utilized now, but by the time the plan is finished, 23 percent of the campus will be used, Bernardo said.
The three residential halls, to be built along Joyce Kilmer and Rockefeller Avenues, will be comprised mostly of two to four single bedroom apartments complete with a living room and kitchen, he said.
The goal is to create a “street wall” that will create a comfortable and safe sense of enclosure, he said.
The buildings will have multiple uses, Bernardo said. The ground levels of the buildings will feature retail stores geared toward students’ interests.
There will also be reading rooms, lounges, recreation facilities, a graduate student center, classrooms and other state-of-the-art facilities, he said.
There is a possibility of a two-screen movie theater, said Vice President for Student Affairs Gregory S. Blimling.
These amenities seek to create more common space throughout the campus where students can feel a greater sense of community, Bernardo said.
“The thing that’s important is that the common space goes from the front of the building all the way to the back with glass on both sides, so when you’re driving down Joyce Kilmer [Avenue], it’s going to look like you’re seeing right through the building. … This is a rare opportunity,” he said. “This is something we’re really excited about.”
The buildings will also be made of different materials and will vary in height to suit the different preferences of student environments, Bernardo said.
“It’s like a little village,” he said. “Every side is a little different.”
All the existing buildings on campus are made of the same dark brown brick and are unappealing to many students. The use of more glass will also create a more aesthetically pleasing environment for the campus, Bernardo said.
“One of the things that the master plan envisions is a much more uplifting palate of materials. What you’re going to see is an architecture that’s uplifting and uses much more lighter colors that almost float,” Bernardo said.
Courtyards will connect the buildings and the campus, emphasizing the environmentally friendly characteristics of the campus, he said.
Developers also want to incorporate Livingston campus’ ecological preserve into the plan by extending a greenway through the spine of the campus, said Alan Horwitz, a senior project manager with Fletcher Thompson Architects and Engineers, who is working in conjunction with Design Collective.
“The electricity for this project is going to come largely from Rutgers’ solar farm, which is one the largest solar [panel] installations anywhere in the United States,” Horwitz said.
A hotel, which will be used mainly for conferences and training programs, is also part of the plans and will be connected to the School of Business and Continuing Studies, Blimling said. The details of the hotel are still underway.
Some students are concerned about the new plans for Livingston campus.
Livingston Campus Council representative Vaibhav Verma said he is unsure about the over-commercialization of the campus.
“Livingston’s good because it has its own central community, and if it’s commercialized too much that might be something that might be lost in the process,” said Verma, a School of Arts and Sciences first-year student.
But he said the increased plans for common space should be to preserve the sense of community the campus prides.
The project has been in discussion for several years, and the University has met with various groups and collected a lot of information, Blimling said.
“A number of people have worked on residence halls before,” he said. “We brought them all together and put together a top notch design team to really bring together all the information knowledge we possibly could to make this really an outstanding residence hall project.”
Council representative Chrissy Dixon is worried about the increased construction.
“I love everything that they have planned, but the only downside is that there will be perpetual construction on Livingston for years to come,” said Dixon, School of Arts and Sciences first-year student.
Horwitz said student concerns about noise have not yet been taken into account.
Yousef Saleh, Rutgers University Student Assembly treasurer, said he thinks Livingston will become the most popular place on campus.
“I wouldn’t be too worried about over-commercializing Livingston because this construction project will essentially give Livingston a pulse,” said Saleh, a School of Arts and Sciences junior who also serves on the council. “It would put the ‘living’ back on Livingston.”
— Mary Diduch contributed to this article
New housing to alter image of Livingston
Published: Monday, November 16, 2009
Updated: Monday, November 16, 2009
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