Dorm Living - my, how things have changed!

@jespah,

This is the dorm that replaced the dorm that I lived in when I was at school. A few years ago - a girl left a candle burning and burned our old dorm down- no one was hurt thankfully. I thought then, it's a wonder that doesn't happen more often. But anyway - they replaced my old dorm with this:

http://www.warren-wilson.edu/~ELC/images/EcoDormatNight.jpg

It's an ecodorm (my alma mater was just named one of the ten greenest campuses in the US). It's built on the exact footprint of my old dorm - and has more, but smaller rooms than were there when I lived there.
I visited it when I was home in March and it looks nicer from the outside than the old one, but looks more utilitarian on the inside.
Here's a description of how it came about:

Quote:

Warren Wilson College EcoDorm Is First Platinum Dormitory in the Nation
Submitted by Niles Barnes on Mon, 08/03/2009 - 00:00

by Margo N. Flood, Executive Director, Environmental Leadership Center
Chief Sustainability Official, Warren Wilson College

Climate change is the sustainability challenge of our time. As part of Warren Wilson College's ACUPCC commitment, sustainability principles are woven throughout our Climate Action Plan, highlighting the benefit to at least two bottom lines - the operating budget and greenhouse gas emissions. Case studies like the story of the EcoDorm, the only LEED EB-Platinum dormitory in the nation, demonstrate that if you monitor energy usage, the built environment serves as a terrific entry point into sustainability education and significant emissions reductions. With a cost premium of only 10 percent, the EcoDorm uses 69% less energy than conventional structures of the same size.

One of the most potent EcoDorm lessons for higher education has been the value of student engagement. In 1998, students at Warren Wilson learned of plans for a new dorm, urged the administration to build sustainably, and were added to the EcoDorm’s design team of architects and college staff. Students recommended innovative best practices; developed a lifestyle commitment for residents; wrote the EcoDorm Manual; established permaculture landscaping; and now welcome over 300 Green Walkabout visitors a year to their dorm.

The built environment is a potent entry point to sustainable decision making and climate action planning. Buildings in the US account for 65% of electricity consumption and 36% of primary energy use. Designed as a demonstration site, the EcoDorm’s green cost premium was 10%, instead of the average 6.5% premium for LEED-platinum buildings, with payback set at 20 years. For monitoring practices, it served as the case study for the passage of North Carolina’s S668 which directs the conservation of energy and water use in state buildings. In addition, the newly LEED-Gold certified Village dorms perform at a 59% energy savings with a 5% green premium cost and an anticipated 8-year payback.

For Warren Wilson College, climate defines our way of life. Here in the Southern Appalachians, the University of Maryland Center for Integrative Environmental Research’s forecast that “the southeast states may be some of the hardest hit in the nation by climate change” is a call to action. When we consider the environmental, economic, and social/cultural impacts of our options for the short- and long-term before making decisions, they look different.

All students at Warren Wilson work fifteen hours a week (on campus) to cover room and board - the only cost to go there is tuition.

2 Replies

@aidan,

What a terrific idea.

1 Reply

@jespah,

Quote:

Warren Wilson College's slogan is apt: "We're not for everyone...but then, maybe you're not everyone." Located on the edge of Asheville, North Carolina, Warren Wilson is one of the few remaining work colleges in the country. All students must complete a "triad" of requirements: courses in the liberal arts and sciences, participation in a campus work program and community service. The campus includes a 300-acre farm, 650 acres of forest and 25 miles of hiking trails. Warren Wilson College wins high marks for both its value and its environmental efforts. Not suprisingly, environmental studies is the most popular major.

Yeah - and to highlight what Diest was saying about community - the fact that everyone has to work (no one is exempt - when I was there one of the Duke's was there - as in the Duke family of Duke University- and he worked on the plumbing crew - fixing toilets) really instills a sense of pride and community in the students because they're responsible for how the campus looks and runs, etc.

Berea College in Berea Kentucky is another work campus school - or at least it was when I was in college. Apparently the whole idea of the work ethos as a part of college life has become less and less popular.

I was reading some of Warren Wilson's current literature and cost wise the tuition has increased about seven times since I attended- I remember tuition was $3500 a year and room and board was covered by work - and you could live there free for the summer, work and earn tuition credit for the next year (which I did one summer).
Now tuition is over $22,000 and even though everyone still works, they're charging $7,000 a year for room and board.
So things like that change even at Warren Wilson.

0 Replies

@Diest TKO,

An excellent point-- college being a lifestyle choice, not an education. I'd say from the inside this strongly holds true aas well. Students go to college to make friends, join groups and pursue their interests, find a spouse, etc. In many respects, the college experience boils down to (if you do it "right") meeting a wide swath of people, who guide you once you're out of school.

In other words-- the key to success comes from who you know.

In the case of these fancy dorms, I lament how the class issue has so blatently made its way into college life. Sure, the distinctions of class were always present on campus, but now those distinction appear to have widened even more.

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@roger,

And a very staged photograph, too. The room definitely is not as big as it appears here, you're right. Not only does the lens enhance the appearance of spaciousness, the rug could be a deciding factor as well-- it seems like hotel accomadations rather than a dorm room.

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@jespah,

Pine Manor! I haven't heard that school mentioned in a long time. It was referred to as Pine Cupcake.

1 Reply

@Gala,

We called it Pine Mattress.

1 Reply

@jespah,

I forgot about Pine Mattress, too. Reading the name brings back a bunch of memories.

1 Reply

@Gala,

Quote:

I forgot about Pine Mattress, too. Reading the name brings back a bunch of memories.

Sadly (and I mean that sincerely), I'd never heard of it.

1 Reply

@George,

When I was a teenager, Pine Mattress/Cupcake was considered to be a finishing school for wealthy females who couldn't get into a better school. I just looked at the website and it appears as if they've become a more credible institution.

1 Reply

@Gala,

Quote:

. . . a finishing school for wealthy females who couldn't get into a better school. . . .

Also known as "Pre-Wed"

0 Replies

@aidan,

aidan wrote:

Quote:
Warren Wilson College EcoDorm Is First Platinum Dormitory in the Nation
Submitted by Niles Barnes on Mon, 08/03/2009 - 00:00

by Margo N. Flood, Executive Director, Environmental Leadership Center
Chief Sustainability Official, Warren Wilson College

The built environment is a potent entry point to sustainable decision making. . . .

Now, there's a goal to which we could all aspire. Whatever it means.

1 Reply

@roger,

roger wrote:

................The built environment is a potent entry point to sustainable decision making. . .

Sustainability is the latest "anthropogenic-global-warming" code word, I gather. I love the fact that your excerpt is signed by a Ms Flood Smile

1 Reply

@High Seas,

And I didn't even notice.

But the only thing in the world more sustainable than decision making would be meetings on potential decisions.

0 Replies

Dorm Living - my, how things have changed!

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