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Carleton’s dorms go green by doing without

Carlos Gonzalez, Star Tribune

No air conditioning, no in-room cable TV, no workout facilities and no private bathrooms are what residents at the new Carleton College dorms are finding. Instead, the eco-friendly buildings were designed to encourage interaction. Students like Molly Curtis, 19, and Ian Hollyer, 18, seem to enjoy that.

Carleton College's new residence halls are notable for what they don't have, trading luxuriousness and amenities for environmental friendliness.

By JENNA ROSS, Star Tribune

Last update: October 7, 2009 - 9:29 PM

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As they moved in to Carleton College's new residence halls this fall, parents and students didn't ooh and aah over the shiny new workout rooms, walk-in closets, private bathrooms, air conditioning or cable TV.

They couldn't. Cassat and Memorial Halls have none of those things.

Unlike posh new halls at Boston University and Purdue University, the new dorms at Carleton are attention-worthy because of what they don't have. They were built with the idea that today's students are more interested in reducing their carbon footprint than walking into their closets.

Whether Carleton is a trailblazer remains to be seen.

"Does it surprise me to learn that a school like Carleton is building something simpler? Yes," said James Baumann, spokesman for the Association of College and University Housing Officers-International.

In recent years, colleges and universities have built increasingly luxe residence halls to keep upperclassmen on campus, Baumann said.

The fanciest of them resemble four-star hotels. More than 350 students staying in new suites at Purdue University get their own rooms, bathrooms and maid service. Boston University opened a swanky 960-bed tower this fall that overlooks the Charles River.

Instead, moms entering Carleton's new dorms marveled over ceiling fans.

"My mom just loved that fan," said Arpita Bhattacharyya, a senior. "She thought it was the greatest thing ever."

It's not that Carleton's new dorms aren't classy or expensive. The beautiful buildings came with a $27.5 million price tag. But the money went into comfy study spaces, rooftop solar panels and wide, bright halls lit by natural light.

"Students care. That's something I've really seen grow over my three and a half years here," said Matthew Pieh, a senior psychology major and resident assistant in Cassat. He loves his new digs.

Private vs. public space

Carleton officials say they are not out to compete in the "amenities war" playing out at other colleges.

"We think people come to Carleton not because of the extensive amenities in residence halls but our intellectual and academic amenities," said Frederick Rogers, vice president and treasurer. "And the new buildings really speak to those things."

Memorial Hall is home to more seniors and more suites than Cassat Hall, where most of the 140 students of all ages share rooms, bathrooms and one lounge and kitchen per floor. The dorm encourages interaction.

"This generation of college students is coming to college having more," said Steve Wisener, director of residential life. "We're finding that fewer and fewer folks shared rooms growing up.

Lounges are popular hangouts

"So we worked really hard to make sure that there was enough private space -- but that the rooms weren't so luxurious that they'd never want or need to come out of them."

Thus, the rooms lack cable hook-ups, full kitchens and washing machines. Carleton hopes that instead, students will head to the lounge, the dining hall and the fitness center, because "one of the things that students do when they go out is they see each other," Rogers said.

It's working, Pieh said. Students regularly hang out in the lounges and "want to be there."

School's going for green

Carleton hopes to get a LEED gold rating with the new halls -- continuing a trend toward more eco-friendly buildings on college campuses. Recently opened apartment-style halls at St. Catherine University, St. John's University and the University of Minnesota-Crookston all boast green design.

If the environment doesn't inspire other schools to follow suit, the economy might.

Many of the luxury projects opening now have been in the works for years, before the recession hit, Baumann said.

"Going forward, it will be interesting to see what kinds of dorms will come out of this time," he said. "Maybe they're the beginning of the trend."

Jenna Ross • 612-673-7168

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