PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — As students arrived on campus in early May for the start of Brown’s summer term, the University welcomed undergraduates into a new, state-of-the-art residence hall for the first time in 30 years.
About 114 sophomores, juniors and seniors moved into Brown’s newly completed health and wellness center and residence hall at 450 Brook St. during a staggered, socially distanced move-in event from May 9 to 11. The building, between Cushing and Meeting streets, is directly adjacent to green space on Pembroke Field and a short walk to Brown’s Erickson Athletic Complex and (in the other direction) College Hill’s bustling commercial district on Thayer Street.
The residence hall boasts suites with single rooms and standalone singles, single bathrooms, and open common areas that feature bright natural daylight and views of Pembroke Field. It also includes state-of-the-art common kitchen areas, which will be accessible in the fall when the building’s spaces open in full.
Koren Bakkegard, associate vice president for campus life and dean of students, called the new residence hall an outstanding addition to undergraduate student life at Brown.
"We are so very excited to see the opening of the new residence hall,” she said. “This beautifully designed and constructed residence will provide highly desirable housing for upper-division students including single rooms with ample community space and shared kitchens in one portion of the building and comfortable four-person suites in the other. When the programmatic elements are launched in the fall, students will benefit from an extraordinary immersive living-learning experience at Brown.”
This week’s student move-in marks the first stage in opening the new health and wellness center and residence hall, which will fully realize its vision at the start of the fall semester. The University broke ground in November 2019 and one year ago celebrated the completion of its exterior structure in an event featuring project leaders from Facilities Management, Shawmut Design and Construction (construction management), William Rawn Associates (architecture and design) and other partners. Despite the challenges of COVID-19, the building remained on schedule; its first residents are enrolled for Brown’s summer term, the last of three “de-densified” semesters in the 2020-21 academic year to allow for reduced occupancy on campus during the pandemic.