The History of American College Dorms(theamericanconservative.com)
theamericanconservative.com
The History of American College Dorms
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/urbs/the-surprising-history-of-american-college-dorms/
15 comments
My dorm was an old motel that the school was leasing. You could park right outside your door, or go up the stairs if you were on the second floor. Since we were a couple of blocks away from the main campus, we had our own dining room. Which had better food than the main dining halls because it was less institutional - the workers there knew us and our preferences. It was one of the best-kept secrets of the university.
To this day I deeply miss the ability to, when bored, wander down the hall and see whose door was open and what was going on, or to leave my own door open and get drawn into whatever interesting thing arose on the hallway. But aside from aging out of college myself, far less people are even getting access to that in the first place. The entire "dorm" model is dying at colleges, as the residential buildings, though still colloquially called dorms, are really just apartment buildings, except more expensive and they kick you out for a while every couple months.
Or the ugly middle: where colleges built dorms in the old style/dimensions, but you were still forced to have self-closing 50lb fire doors because of fire code regulations.
Honestly, these doors are terrible. I just moved out of an apartment building where they were for some reason required and everything from carrying in furniture to carrying in groceries. I know this is extremely tangential, but if anyone can speak to exactly how/why these are supposed to improve outcomes in the event of a fire, I'd love to hear it.
They compartmentalize whatever fire may occur, so that it doesn't quickly spread down the hallways and corridors. They also serve as barriers to smoke.
The cheap way of doing this is to have self-closing doors that remain shut all the time. Hospitals and other high-traffic locations will have door holds that keep the doors open unless the fire alarm is tripped. When an alarm occurs, the door holds release and the fire doors close.
The cheap way of doing this is to have self-closing doors that remain shut all the time. Hospitals and other high-traffic locations will have door holds that keep the doors open unless the fire alarm is tripped. When an alarm occurs, the door holds release and the fire doors close.
FWIW, door stops work quite well.
My residence hall (we don't really say "dorm" in the UK any more) had these "expensive" things to hold the doors open, back in the early 2000s. It's an electromagnet connected to the fire alarm system; the door has a metal plate.
This is a safety improvement, because it avoids people propping doors open with wedges, chairs or fire extinguishers.
All the halls had them, as well as many doors in the academic buildings, whether they were new buildings or renovated 19th century buildings.
This is a safety improvement, because it avoids people propping doors open with wedges, chairs or fire extinguishers.
All the halls had them, as well as many doors in the academic buildings, whether they were new buildings or renovated 19th century buildings.
I've often thought that dorms could be built for young, single workers. I, too, enjoyed living in the dorms in college, and miss the camaraderie there.
WeLive was similar to this. Wonder how they're doing these days?
This is a thing for many older big companies in Japan
My college had conventional dorms, and then they also bought and renovated a bunch of the houses in the surrounding neighborhood, capable of housing maybe 6 or 8 students each. I lived in one of those houses.
Today, one of my kids is presently in a college dorm.
One thing was notable about the dorms, namely: The college is a great landlord. Dorms tend to be reasonably secure, safe, and sanitary. Repairs are made promptly and correctly. If something goes dreadfully wrong with a dorm room, you can be in another room within a few hours. Because the dorms are designed for college life, the distraction of dealing with your living arrangements is kept to a bare minimum.
Today, one of my kids is presently in a college dorm.
One thing was notable about the dorms, namely: The college is a great landlord. Dorms tend to be reasonably secure, safe, and sanitary. Repairs are made promptly and correctly. If something goes dreadfully wrong with a dorm room, you can be in another room within a few hours. Because the dorms are designed for college life, the distraction of dealing with your living arrangements is kept to a bare minimum.
Rutgers was not the state university until 1945.