<p>Treeman, I couldn’t agree more with each of your points and it appears that Carleton is of a similar mind. </p>
<p>They’re starting construction this week on the two residence halls with occupancy scheduled for next year (September 2009). The buildings are designed to blend in comfortably with adjacent Nourse Hall’s circa 1917 architecture. The siting looks great - it essentially takes an existing 3 sided quad and closes in the fourth side establishing a central open green space and sense of intimacy that doesn’t now exist. While the look of the new buildings may be “classic,” the construction will be cutting edge. True to form for the school, the buildings are being built “green” (solar panels, less impervious paving, etc.) and they’ve applied for a LEED Gold certification for the project (the first for any Minnesota college).</p>
<p>There’ll be room for 230 students in the two buildings. One building will be apartment style, the other standard doubles and singles. Carleton’s explained that half of the new space is devoted to increasing the number of students living on campus from around 90% to around 95% (i.e. a small number still doing Northfield option). The remaining rooms are devoted, as fireflyscout explained, to eliminating triples and “over-capacity” problems (can you say “euphemism”).</p>
<p>The project looks great. Don’t worry about gold plated faucets in the bathrooms. Any money “above and beyond” will be spent increasing energy efficiency and reducing impact on the environment. This is Carleton we’re talking about.</p>