Group 5 Final Post: The Evolution of Housing on Campus (Group Post)

For our final project we decided to focus on how housing on the campusof the University of Utah has evolved over the years. We decided to do this because we were interested to know where the original dorms were located on campus because the ones that we live in now were so recently built.

At first we wanted to create a video consisting of information we found and interviews. We split up different tasks to each member and began work, but soon found that it was hard to get interviews done for each of us and it was hard to get together due to schedule conflicts. We finally settled on a multimedia project with Hannah, Cindy, and Leslie with video clips, Ross and I with posters, and Jessie with an oral presentation of her info.

We began our project with the old dorms on campus. Cindy and Leslie described them as traditional dorms with split gender housing that was more for sleeping than living. One positive was that they were close to the classrooms and were located in the heart of campus. However, they were run down and didn’t instill a sense of community within the residents.

The old dorms were torn down and replaced with the housing today in order to house athletes during the winter olympics. The olympics didn’t really benefit the University in any way though because new housing was already being planned and the campus was shut down for a month. Rather the olympics and the Salt Lake community benefited from the use of the campus. This was Ross and Jessie’s section.

My section focused on present day housing and the stereotypes each group of buildings hold and how the residents interact with one another within the space. I also identified what parts of housing were the pathways, edges, districts, and nodes. Hannah talked about the new Honors dorms that will be completed in the fall and the many benefits of thatthey have for students.