Across the Brain from the current Dickinson Community, residential buildings that will make up the new Dickinson are under construction. The project is scheduled to be completed by August 2013.
Dickinson, built in 1958, was the first housing community at Binghamton University. Rebuilding the community is the final stage of the East Campus Housing Project, a $350 million project funded as part of the University’s five-year capital plan, as determined by the state legislature and governor with input from SUNY central and the State University Construction Fund.
Karen Fennie, spokeswoman for Physical Facilities, told Pipe Dream that Dickinson is being rebuilt because it was not cost-effective to renovate. Renovations under updated building codes would decrease the number of available beds.
So far, construction on the new Dickinson site has consisted mainly of demolishing the remaining buildings in Newing College that sat there, according to Fennie. The contractor has also completed underground utility work and has built the foundation for two of the buildings.
“The crane on site is erecting steel on the new O’Connor Hall,” Fennie said. “A variety of utility work continues. In the next couple of months, remaining foundation work will be completed and you will continue to see steel going up for the buildings.”
Professor and Dickinson Faculty Master Jeffrey Barker said that the new buildings will be similar in design to the new Newing buildings, which were completed last summer and will be centered around a large field.
“One of the things people say about Dickinson over the years is that it has this nice outdoor space that encourages people to get out of their rooms,” Barker said. “The architect kept that in mind for the new Dickinson. The entrances to all of the buildings face a round field in the center, which can be used for activities like co-rec football, preserving the sense of community.”
The four new buildings will have five floors each and hold a total of 1,400 beds, about 500 beds more than Dickinson as it stands today. The rooms are designed to be suite-style, with a mix of single and double rooms connected by private bathrooms and a small common area.
Barker said the suite’s common areas are intentionally designed to be smaller.
“The idea is that we want students to come out of their suites and socialize,” Barker said. “That’s why every floor will have larger common areas, including two quiet lounges and two social lounges in the center.”
Each of the six current Dickinson buildings will lend their names to the four new buildings, with the exception of Whitney Hall, as decided by a vote last year by Dickinson residents. Champlain Hall’s name was donated to the already-completed Chenango Champlain Collegiate Center (C4), home to Dickinson’s new dining hall.
Kayla O’Donnell, a resident assistant in Champlain and a junior majoring in English, said she is impressed by the size of the new dining hall and the amenities offered in the C4 building.
“It is especially nice for Dickinson students to use the printing and computer facilities in C4, as prior to this year we’d usually have to go to the [Glenn G. Bartle] Library, which can seem like a bit of a hike during the wintertime,” O’Donnell said. “I find a lot of students also use the facilities as a meeting place and as a place to study in groups.”
Eyliza Morciglio, a Dickinson Town Council representative for Whitney Hall and a freshman majoring in biology, said she originally did not want to live in Dickinson because of its standing as the oldest community on campus. After being placed in Whitney, however, Morciglio has applied to become an RA for the community next year.
“Dickinson is actually so much more than I expected,” Morciglio said. “The community is very tight-knit and very welcoming. It would be nice for Dickinson to be recognized for how great the people are and how close the community is, without the stigma of being old … I think Dickinson has definitely earned a rebuild.”
O’Donnell said she hopes the community will preserve its sense of identity after the relocation.
“Dickinson students are among the most social and, as it is predominantly first-year students, you find a lot of people getting involved in a lot of new and different things,” O’Donnell said. “I hope that with the new facilities they continue to preserve what makes Dickinson unique, especially by looking to include a lot of first-year students in the halls.”