Oberlin's Newest Dorm: Woodlands

Interviewer: Hi, my name is Yrva Desormeaux. Hello, my name is Oliver Medlin. Woodland is the newest dorm and one, there's been a lot of discussion around the dorm was supposed to be finished before the start of the school year, but construction is still ongoing.

We are interviewing Woodland residents on what they think of the new dorm and if they have any significant problems with it.

What do you think of Woodlands so far this year?

Ripely: It's nice 'cause it's new and clean and big it's one of the better dorm options,

Jared: I think it's pretty chill. Very fancy looking. I'm excited for the courtyard to be done, as far as living in, it's a good place to live. I already talked to multiple people who are like, how do you get in here?

Sebastian: I think it's, I think it's nice. I mean, the quads are very, accommodating and the building itself is, you know, obviously very clean and very, new. But as far as like living in a still construct, being constructed building, and that's very frustrating, I find, and I don't know, I wish that. There was a little bit more planning involved with like moving, moving people in and just making sure that everything was ready before residents were. Yeah.

Hudson: I actually don't mind it. I really do like the, quad spaces. I think the quad spaces are nice. I, I really do wish that the, windows opened just 'cause, there's the HVAC in the room, but it's like kind of, you want, sometimes it would be nice to kind of have a little more control and the rooms can be really cold sometimes. But it is really small stuff in terms of complaints. I try to imagine myself as being fairly like sympathetic to the kind of, whole situation of constructing a dorm. I get it, like the bricks on the front don't stick, and it's like, well, that wasn't the plan, but what can you do at that point? So they're finishing it and the construction is a little annoying at times, but I'm mostly just glad they're getting it done.

Gabe: It's been pretty good. I love all the space in comparison to other dorms. Yeah.

Interviewer: Have there been any problems that you've noticed? ?

Esther: I think the fire alarms are annoying. I think it's weird the windows don't open.

Gabe: The fire alarm goes off a lot

Ripely: That it's not finished I think the sounds, there's not a lot of insulation that could just be, 'cause it's not finished.

There's a uneven number of washers and dryers my roommate hates.

Jared: Not really, to be honest. I personally don't have any problems. I can list other problems. People have had, like, my girlfriend for example, she doesn't, she didn't like the fact that the toilets didn't have a lid, so she went and got one and installed one. If I don't, this is for a class, but I guess that's illegal. They took the table down too. They put a couch in there. Those are the only complaints I've heard.

Oh, when the big thing is the windows. Oh, the windows. I actually agree with this. I would like for the windows to be openable.

Esther: I mean it's it's really cold all the time. And you can't control the temperature. But I guess it's better to have air conditioning.

Sebastian: Mostly, it's, I think it's small petty stuff, but like, construction just being, you know, very loud in the morning sometimes, and, specifically, you know, we had an overactive fire alarm system that seems to have calmed down now, but it was like, almost like it kind of every other day. It would go off at, you know, sometimes inconvenient moments. And that's all I can really think of for now. It's just, it's different. It's, it's huge. I mean, it's, it's like the biggest, it feels like the biggest place I am in regularly on, on campus. And the fact that I live here is so, so. Interesting. And I live on the fourth floor, so it's like, it's quite a journey to kind of shuttle back and forth between classes or wherever I need to go. But that's just kind of part of the part of the deal.

Interviewer: After hearing the comments and concerns from Woodland residents, we sought out input from resident life in hopes to garner further explanation of Woodland's building process and design.

Can you introduce yourself?

Mark: Yeah. My name is Mark Zeno. I serve as the Assistant Vice President and Dean of Residence Life and Auxiliary Services here at Oberlin.

Interviewer: I have two quick questions. Was Woodland on track to be finished by fall semester?

Mark: It was, but there was some complications with the external membrane they found some manufacturing defects within that membrane and so they had to rip all that membrane back off and put it up. So put them back several months behind.

Interviewer: And a common complaint that some of the residents have. Is that the fact that the windows don't open, is that a design element, or is that a temporary situation due to the fact that there's ongoing construction?

Mark: No, that's actually a design feature that's part of the whole sustainability model of these new builds that are happening in, residential builds now.

So they're finding that it's more it's more sustainable, the energy reduction is there, it brings more fresh air in which with the way that it's designed, it actually brings in 30% more fresh air than a natural window being open in the building.

And so the way they have the whole system designed air quality is much better within the building.

Interviewer: ResLife now estimates the updated completion date for Woodland Hall to be around late November to early December.