Why has the University decided to go down the more large scale hotel-ish dorms route with South, North, and soon Woodlawn? When I look at other Universities’ expansion of undergraduate housing they seem to try and put more charm into each place. Specifically I think of Yale’s new Franklin College and Murray College where they went to a lot of pain to keep it for the most part in line with Yale’s other architecture. Vanderbilt and Princeton are doing/has done similar things with their residential colleges as well. UChicago is clearly interested in keeping more undergrads living on campus. If Zimmer and Boyer want to do this in order to emulate other schools like Harvard and Yale is it really the right call build massive modern complexes that other schools seem to think won’t be as attractive to prospective undergrads? Is this more of a financial play and the mega dorms are cheaper ways trying to keep undergrads on campus than the more ornate and/or traditional collegiate residents halls?
Probably the most economic way of adding so many beds. Just a guess though.
Franklin and Murray College cost: $500-600 million
Franklin and Murray capacity: 800 students
North Campus Residential Commons cost: $162 million
North Campus capacity: 800 students
?
The answer to any question that boils down to “why did the university do this bizarre thing” is almost always “because the university is in deep debt and still trying to climb off the ledge of a precarious financial situation”
Its cost considerations.
Having said that, the new buildings look good, well designed, have ample space, and because they are tall, they have lower carbon foot print, easier to secure, have awesome views especially at the higher floors.
Most importantly, the students seem to love them.
Its not Hogwarts but idk… the new buildings, especially North’s gleaming glass and white exterior, remind me of Gondor of the Lord of the Rings. With South coming up, I would not be surprised if people start calling them the Two Towers.
Then again, I would rather have them do a building that takes inspiration from Rivendell. That would be awesome. Maybe one of these days, when they have enough money to do renovations, they could change Max’s exterior and put a ton of sinewy arches in it.
@FStratford https://www.chicagoshadydealer.com/articles/999-this-is-just-like-hogwarts-exclaims-prospie-in-north/
“Then again, I would rather have them do a building that takes inspiration from Rivendell. That would be awesome. Maybe one of these days, when they have enough money to do renovations, they could change Max’s exterior and put a ton of sinewy arches in it.”
- oh my wouldn't that be lovely. But forget about leaving any spots open for the first years.
Pierce reminded me a bit of Orthanc from the outside. Not in physical resemblance but just in how it stuck out and could be seen from everywhere on campus. I’d take Minas Tirith over that any day.
Wait, if North is Minas Tirith and South is Minas Ithil, does that make Reg Osgiliath 
? Or is it the Gondolin of Hyde Park ?
I have been taken aback by the appearance of Reg since I stepped on the campus 30+ years ago. It looks more like a medieval castle than a library. What a shame I have never been able to find dungeons and dragons or sorcerer and elf there.
Gondolin? The hidden city of Turgon that sunk beneath the sea after the turmoil of the first age?
…I think it’s pretty clear that’s the Shoreland.
@HydeSnark I am just thinking about “Of Tuor and his Coming to Gondolin”. When Ecthelion bowed to Tuor (after Ulmo message through Tuor’s mouth) and he opened the Great Gate, Tuor could finally set his eye on the Hidden City.
Many, many years ago after a long night at Rosenwald (then the main campus building of Graduate School of Business) I walked thru Cobb Gate and looked at Reg. I had the mystic feeling that I was Tuor staring at the Turgon’s magnificent elven kingdom.
This was what an all nighter could do to your brain and get you hallucinated 
and this is why I never could have gone to UChicago. I understand perfectly what you are talking about but am too shy to publish it in public.
@85bears46 Admittedly, “looking in amazement on ancient wonders beyond their comprehension” is a common trope in Tolkien’s writings - we see it over and over again in the Hobbit, the Lord of the Rings and the Silmarillion. You could say you felt like Tuor…or like Ar-Pharazôn gazing on Tirion upon Tuna* or like Bilbo as he looked into the dale of Rivendell for the first time or like the fellowship as they passed through the gates of Moria or the eaves of Lorian.
*though perhaps this feeling is reserved for prospies who have yet to get in; gazing on something they sorely want but likely will not get
Could this thread possibly become more geeky?
@JBStillFlying Geeky is acceptable on CC. Snarky is not 
I would assert that the geek quotient in that exchange was of a magnitude to dilute and render harmless the well-known snark of the disputants.
@85bears46 - you say that as if snark is a bad thing. My geek-o-meter was at an 11 reading this thread LOL. My kids are the type to join the LOTR Club at school but even they don’t get into the weeds like this. Here’s a question to bring the thread back to the original subject: what dorms should my son avoid if he similarly wishes to geek out?
https://www.chicagomaroon.com/article/2018/4/13/unbuilt-uchicago/
this would’ve been cool