Keohane 4E nears winter completion

As the house model takes a more tangible shape, so does the model’s physical counterpart—Keohane 4E.

Keohane Quadrangle 4E construction will be completed Dec. 15, said Dominic Wood, an assistant superintendent for SKANSKA—the construction company managing the project.

“We’re going to get it done,” Wood said. “Duke has to have it ready by then, so they can furnish the rooms and bring in housekeeping.”

When K4 opens for residents January 2012, it will exclusively house juniors returning from studying abroad, said Joe Gonzalez, associate dean for residence life, adding that this might mean fewer returning juniors will be released from their housing contracts this year.

“It’s certainly a possibility, though it depends on how many beds available we have on the rest of campus,” he said. “It is a logical conclusion that fewer would be released though, given that we are adding 150 beds to campus.”

Starting Fall 2012, K4 will house independent students as part of the house model.

The project is costing the University between $20 million and $22 million, Gonzalez said. The majority of the funding is provided by Housing, Dining and Residence Life, though the remainder comes from other University funds.

The residence hall introduces a new style of student living, offering townhouse suite-style accommodations and more single rooms compared with other structures on campus. This architectural decision was made to encourage upperclassmen to stay on campus as part of the class progression principle of the house model, Gonzalez said Monday, during a tour of K4.

A new student hub

The new residence hall is doing more than providing additional beds, as it furthers the McClendon Tower, Keohane and Edens quadrangles area as hubs for campus activity, Wasiolek said.

“That area will be critical during the renovation period of West Union, as well as after,” she said, adding that she believes the K4 area will become the new center of student activity on West Campus.

The inclusion of a University space within K4 is one of the most significant contributions to this goal.

A separate, student space is located on the lower part of K4 facing McClendon. The large, stained-concrete floored space features ceiling-to-floor, garage-style windows. These windows will be able to open, creating an outdoor atmosphere and spanning a significant amount of space, and able to seat 125 people for a classroom-style event, Gonzalez said.

The space will be available for University and student groups to reserve the rooms for various events and other uses, though it will more informally cater to students looking to study, socialize or watch the large, flat-screen television that will be installed on the venue’s back wall, he said. The administration will also discuss the possibility of having a vendor inside or on the spacious outdoor patio, furnished with gliders and other seating.

The grand patio area is one of two exterior projects associated with K4 construction. An outdoor Edens stairwell is also being constructed as part of the McClendon Tower Project, which provides new furniture and other improvements to McClendon’s first and third floors.

The Edens stairwell and the K4 patio will both be completed in January, Wood said.

A multi-class community

K4, which was built with the house model in mind, will encompass two unaffiliated houses starting Fall 2012. House One will have 60 students and is comprised of the first and second floors, and the larger House Two will accommodate 90 students, spanning the third, fourth and fifth floors.

And with suite-style living, students—especially upperclassmen—can enjoy their own space and privacy, Gonzalez added.

Up to four students can live in a suite, which architecturally mimics the concept of an independent section, with three single rooms and an accompanying private lounge area, he said. The seven suites in House Two span the fourth and fifth floors, featuring a single room and living area connected to three single rooms via a private staircase. The fifth floor is only accessible through the individual suite staircases.

Four singles will share a lounge area in House One, which will only offer three suites restricted to the second floor.

“The building is first-class and fits into what we would hope the Duke experience can be for undergraduate students,” Wasiolek said. “The building emphasizes community, while it also supports individual comfort and privacy.”

Ideally, juniors and seniors would opt for single rooms and suite-style living, Gonzalez said, adding that the sophomores would live in the double rooms offered within each house.

Double rooms make up the majority of the rooms in K4, spanning the first through fourth floors. No closets will be in the rooms—only wardrobes as seen in some other residence halls such as Bell Tower on East Campus.

And despite the architecture’s commitment to privacy, bathrooms will be shared among halls.

“We feel that bathrooms are important in contributing to community,” Gonzalez said, noting that administrators realize private bathrooms are a trend in other schools’ residential models.

Halls will also remain co-ed, though the question of whether males and females can live in the same suite—a possible extension of gender-neutral housing policies—is still under discussion, Gonzalez said.

The houses also have their own distinct entrances, a feature necessary for a house’s identity, Gonzalez said.

House Two’s entrance connects via bridge to McClendon Tower, and House One can be accessed from ground level. The houses’ common areas will open up to grassy, courtyard-like areas with a small brick patio space. Other respective amenities include a large lounge, kitchen and various study spaces, with laundry areas in the basement. The common areas connect to the houses’ upper floors by a grand staircase.

There will be no faculty-in-residence in K4, Gonzalez noted, adding that there will be one graduate resident living in an apartment on the first floor.

The first of what’s to come

The broader consequence of K4’s completion is its role as a model for future construction projects and changes to the University’s residential model, Gonzalez said.

“It shows what we anticipate housing will look like in the future—that it’s being designed for the house model and what it should look like,” he said.

With plans for New Campus long put on the back-burner due to financial struggles, Gonzalez noted that the University does have the incentive to build more housing.

“We still need to add those beds at some point in the future and as we implement the house model and K4, we hope it is going to serve as a very strong template when the University is ready to do so,” he said. “Even if you look at the towers in Keohane, there is a significant difference in the buildings that we have under the quad model versus the house model.”