(featured photo by Claire Barnett)
The E. Bronson Ingram Hall residential college, the newest addition to Vanderbilt’s College Halls system, is on track to open for housing in the fall of 2018. Much like the other College Halls, the new dorm will feature spaces for faculty, staff and students to regularly interact as part of a residential community. Construction of the new $115.5 million hall commenced in May of 2016 and will be completed by summer of 2018, according to Jim Kramka, Senior Director of Housing Operations at the university.
“Concrete and steel work is largely complete at this point, and brick and stone work is progressing on the tower and on the west façade,” Kramka said. “The roofing is currently going on and will soon provide full, dry coverage. The architecture is Collegiate Gothic and picks up architectural cues from Kirkland Hall and Alumni Hall.”
The new residential hall was first announced in March of 2016 when, following the success of the Warren and Moore College Halls, it was decided that the 65-year old Vanderbilt and Barnard residential halls would be torn down and rebuilt. In April of this year it was announced that the newly constructed dorm would be renamed to E. Bronson Ingram Hall, after the late Vanderbilt Board of Trust leader, whose family made a gift to the university.
E. Bronson Ingram Hall will increase the housing options on Alumni Lawn, expanding the housing capacity of the old Barnard/Vanderbilt halls from 240 students to approximately 340 students. The college will provide additional room for a faculty director, two graduate fellows and an OHARE area coordinator. Like the Warren and Moore College Halls, there will be a great room with a fireplace, a multipurpose room, performing arts rehearsal space and numerous meeting rooms for residents.
“Significant features of the building will be internal courtyards for the use of the college, portals that will connect the courtyards internally at ground level and an internal arcade that will provide covered walkways for residents,” Kramka said.
Another key addition to the Bronson Ingram dorm will be a full campus dining kitchen, servery and dining hall, similar to the Commons Center, giving upperclassmen other dining options on main campus. The Meal Plan has not been determined yet at this time for Bronson Ingram residents.
As for housing itself, Bronson Ingram will have three types of rooms: singles, doubles and suites for four students, which consist of singles with a living/eating area, kitchen and shared bathroom within the suite. Students will apply for spaces in the dorm just as they do for the Warren and Moore colleges and applications for fall 2018 housing will open in the spring of 2018.
these spaces will foster an environment where small contacts and encounters can create a stronger community.
Civil Engineering student Jerom Theunissen is one of the few undergraduate students involved in the Ingram project from its early stages, when he attended the project’s proposal at a FutureVU town hall meeting in December of 2015. As a member of VSG’s Residential and Environmental affairs committee, he co-authored a set of recommendations presented to FutureVU leadership last spring, and has since been serving as a land use planning assistant to Vice Chancellor for Administration Eric Kopstain’s office.
“The new Bronson building features these really beautiful courtyards that remind me of Oxford,” Theunissen said. “I think these spaces will foster an environment where small contacts and encounters can create a stronger community. I’m the most excited about returning to campus in the years to come to see how FutureVU manifests itself. It’s a privilege to be a part of a rare opportunity to shape the development of Vanderbilt’s campus and it’s relation to greater Nashville.”Theunissen said he is excited about the project, most notably about the sense of community that the Bronson Ingram hall will create for its residents.
Mark Bandas, Associate Provost and Dean of Students, is proud of the university’s decision to improve the residential living and learning community on campus.
“The College Hall program is one of the most significant initiatives in the history of undergraduate education at Vanderbilt University,” Bandas said. “By providing opportunities for our brilliant students, internationally prominent faculty and dedicated staff to interact on a daily basis, the College Halls will transform undergraduate education at Vanderbilt and help us realize the full potential of residential living and learning. E. Bronson Ingram College represents the next phase of this program. Its magnificent yet humane architecture will provide intimate settings designed to promote engagement and inclusivity, the ideal foundation for learning.”
