The College’s newest residence hall now has its first batch of residents.
The building is located between Cotter Union and Diamond, and it houses approximately 217 students. While it was initially dubbed the Mayflower Hill Residence Hall, the building has since been subdivided into the Mayflower, O’Neil, Igarashi, Charlie Bassett, and Werlin Houses. The new residence opened at the beginning of this academic year.
The residence is split into three kinds of housing: single clusters, connected suites, and traditional suites. Connected suites resemble traditional suites, except the bedroom doors lock, while the entrances to the suite don’t.
Hopkins Architects and Bruner/Cott Architects, who designed the building, made this layout choice to encourage community development. An Aug. 21 Colby News article explains that the architects were trying “to create a residence that fosters independence and connectivity.” This possibly contradictory phrase evokes the experience of living in the new residence.
Overall, that experience is positive.
The rooms themselves are comfortable, with dimmable lighting, large windows, and full-size beds. The common areas, though somewhat spartan, are also nice places to spend time because of their smart layouts and plentiful lighting. The air fryers in the kitchenettes heat up leftover Portland Pie with gusto.
The aerial walkways between sections of the building also double as study and lounge spaces. They’re excellent for reading, homework, and people-watching. The kitchenettes are usually secluded, quiet homework spots, with nice views, large windows, and surprisingly comfortable wooden chairs.
But there are some unusual design choices worth noting.
The kitchenettes are almost robust enough to serve for daily meal prep… but not quite. So, students living in the new residence are on the full (more expensive) meal plan, even though they’ve got extensive snack-making equipment.
Elevators open into some connected suites, so every now and then, non-residents will wander through what is essentially a resident’s living room. It’s also possible for anybody with building access to walk through any of the doors opening into the connected suites, and they may treat your semi-private living space as a hallway.
All of the doors leading to suites and single clusters are made of glass with only a wooden frame. So anybody walking by can see directly into the common rooms. Many residents have taken matters into their own hands, disregarding fire restrictions, and covered the glass in drapes or posters. But that’s a roundabout solution.
Additionally, the connected suites share a kitchenette (one kitchenette for every two suites) and a hallway without a door. As a result, there’s always an open walkway into another group’s common space. Again, residents have hung up curtains for privacy, despite the action seeming to defeat the purpose of the building’s design.
Finally, there are no cleaning staff for the bathroom facilities, at least for now. It’s a point of contention. This isn’t a problem for those in suites; they’re just cleaning their own bathroom, the one they share with friends. But for those living in the single clusters, it means having to take responsibility for the toilet hygiene of strangers. This may “foster independence,” as the building is designed to do, and it may even build community. But, it may also (in the moment) foster disgust.
One of the building’s community advisors (CAs), Audrey Ishiyama `28 said that she put together bathroom agreements to head off potential issues. “I just decided to do that because I was going to have the conversation anyway,” Ishiyama said. “So, I thought it would be best to have it in writing.”
So far, she says that solution is working well.
But, the common room in which I interviewed her, which is near a number of singles, has trash piling up under the sink and leftover food on the counters. Overflowing trash cans are a common sight, even this early in the semester. It remains to be seen how effectively residents will take responsibility for their brand-new residence’s cleanliness.
But, the mess means the new residence’s communal spaces are being used. The many novel lounge spaces, kitchenettes, and tables in the Mayflower Hill residence have become popular resources, and it’s easy to see why. For all of its design quirks, the new residence is nice. And there’s something special about being the first students to live in that space.
How well will it age? That will be decided by the residents and the extent to which they take care of their new building.
How will the cleaning logistics work out? That’s a question both CAs and residents are still asking. Several questions went practically unanswered during mandatory information sessions. That’s reflected in meeting notes shared by one of the building’s CAs: “No answer? LOL,” reads one bullet point, in response to a question about bathroom cleaning procedures in the event of sickness.
Colby Housing did not respond to an interview request. As such, the Echo intends to publish a follow-up article with future interviews, which will hopefully resolve some of the ambiguities currently surrounding the new residence hall.
~ Elias Kemp `27
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