Student Housing
Richard Koshalek writes:
“The lack of appropriate student housing has been one of Art Center’s longest-standing drawbacks, and with prices in the Pasadena area increasingly unaffordable for students, this need is now greater than ever. The availability of on-campus housing for the first time in Art Center’s history will be an immensely important factor in recruiting and retaining top students, including international students, and will greatly boost our ability to compete with other schools in this respect. Students living at this new facility will be selected based on a combination of factors, including need, merit and maturity. It is also essential to remember that in a landmark agreement, the dormitories will be built by the developer at absolutely no cost to the College – and a portion of the rental fees will be returned to the College as scholarship monies.”
Tuesday, June 17th, 2008 at 12:41 pm. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Joseph:
June 17th, 2008 at 1:58 pmWhy answer a question that we have not asked?
I’d be willing to bet that students and alumni would be plenty supportive of constucting student housing, with that as it’s primary purpose. But why Gehry? What do we owe him? Students need “housing on the cheap”.
Community Forum Moderator:
June 17th, 2008 at 3:14 pmHi Joseph,
Actually, this question about housing was posed at the recent Community Forum held on June 10th.
Gehry isn’t designing the student housing. The architect is Kevin Daly of Daly Genik Architects (the same firm that designed South Campus).
Joseph:
June 18th, 2008 at 10:06 amWhy not build the ACCD housing by itself, and not with architecture as the goal.
Make affordability to live there the main purpose.
Community Forum Moderator:
June 18th, 2008 at 2:15 pmHi Joseph,
Affordable housing is the main priority in the creation of Art Center’s first student housing. The specific economics of the development are still underway but we assure you that affordability is our key concern.
Jason:
June 20th, 2008 at 5:53 pmDoes Art Center own the land outright that the student housing will sit on? Not land lease.
If so isn’t their more ambitious developments that will yield greater revenues outside of the students pockets, projects that developers would have more interest in building?
Is the investment of student housing only being pursed because a developer will foot the construction bill?
Why not purchase apt. complexes and renovate, It’ could be a highly publicized sustainable move.
The return on investment is higher for renovations and the soon to be ultra valuable land in South Pasadena will have a opportunity to gain even more value. (Please see Cooper Union 1929)
My point is that building in S. Pasadena will not be affordable student housing in the long run. If you make it affordable for students your are essential subsidizing us with our own money.
Invest downtown now look at the brewery.
Have your architects done research on the day in the life of a Art Center student if so what did you find?
Patricia Oliver:
June 25th, 2008 at 12:09 pmJason —
Art Center owns the land that the student housing will be built on. There are always other projects could be built on the property, but housing is by far the project of the most interest to developers and to the Art Center community. With rental demand at an all-time high and housing prices increasing yearly in Pasadena, housing is still the number one need. The idea of purchasing housing and renovating the buildings for Art Center students was considered. The fact that we own the land makes the possibility of providing housing more possible–especially since the primary requirement is to provide housing at no cost to the College. Eventually, Art Center will own the housing outright. At that point it can set the rents at whatever level it deems appropriate. While this won’t benefit you, as a current student, it will be a considerable asset to the College and its students down the road.
The idea to build student housing has been tossed around within the College for at least 15 years. In the last eight years, there have been three separate studies and surveys conducted to determine what the students at Art Center wanted both in terms of type of housing and acceptable rents. What we learned from the various surveys were that Art Center students did not want a “dorm” type of student housing, but preferred to have relatively bare open space with a more “loft-like” feel to them. They didn’t want a living room, they wanted work space—so no sofas, etc. They wanted the project to be sustainable. They rejected a recreation room in favor of an assembly/work space where hand tools, etc. could be used. They wanted some outdoor space, and they tended to gravitate toward single units over multiple shared units.
The largest population that has expressed a need for housing has been our international students. Many of them arrive at Art Center with no car, no insurance and no driver’s license. Even though the literature sent to them describes where Art Center is located, the reality of being in Southern California with minimal public transportation doesn’t really register until they arrive here. Housing at the South Campus will allow students to be close to campus with access to the Gold Line, which can get them to downtown Pasadena and downtown L.A. They will be able to take the shuttle to the Hillside Campus (shuttles will be increased once the housing is in place) and have a little time to acclimatize before having to invest in other forms of transportation.
Many parents have expressed dismay that there is no housing for their sons or daughters who are relocating here from another country or state. Housing at South Campus will provide them some peace of mind that their children will be safe. For graduate students, housing at the South Campus will allow them to simply walk across the driveway to class.
— Patricia Oliver
Senior Vice President, Educational Planning and Architecture
Robert:
January 15th, 2009 at 3:19 pmThe proposed student housing sounds fine and good, but what about right now? Personally speaking, with the economy the way it is right now, I can barely afford tuition and supplies which leaves me commuting about 30mi everyday!
Why not do something temporary in the interem? I know that the cost of houses is dropping and apartments/condos/duplexes etc. are beggining to follow suit… Couldn’t Art Center buy/lease a few houses or group of apartments and sublet them out to students?
I understand that there might be legal obsticles I’m not aware/know of, but it just seems to me like a quick and effective course of action. Plus, the school could even make some $ in the process…
Community Forum Moderator:
January 20th, 2009 at 4:18 pmRobert,
Thank you for your question (posted 1/15/09 at 3:19 pm). We’ll be posting your question on Interim President Frank L. Ellsworth’s blog, and he will respond to your concerns there.
Thank you,
Community Forum Moderator