Unthank Hall featured in the Register-Guard
Chris Pietsch/Register-Guard
7 stories, $87M later: A First Look at UO’s newest dorm
Explore DeNorval Unthank Jr. Hall, the first of three new halls in a $217M plan
By Jordyn Brown
Register-Guard
Sep. 16, 2021
The University of Oregon's newest building, Unthank Hall, at the corner of East 15th Avenue and Agate Street, will offer nearly 700 students a new option for on-campus living this fall.
With an estimated $87 million price tag, the seven-story building is named after DeNorval Unthank Jr., the first African American to graduate from the UO’s School of Architecture and Allied Arts and the designer of McKenzie and Bean halls on campus.
Beyond housing students, the building serves the purpose of creating expanded dining options on campus and a designated area to bring tours of new students.
There are three main parts to the new building: the visitor's center, the PNW market and the students' living area.
The construction and opening of Unthank Hall is the first phase in the UO's Housing Transformation plan, that will result in three new residence halls by August 2024. It's estimated to cost $217 million.
Welcome Center to entice new students
Those who enter through the north side off East 14th Street will find themselves in the UO's new Welcome Center, created with the intention of recruiting new students, as the university has seen consistently declining enrollment for the past decade.
The Welcome Center was designed with the intention of reflecting a home, said Michael Griffel, director of housing and associate vice president, and it has interactive pieces with an emphasis on UO's history and the Oregon outdoors.
A "library" area features books written by faculty and short biographies and photos of prominent alumni. A "home theater" area displays video presentations showing things such as outdoor areas and activities across Oregon.
The design also goes down to the details—a different wallpaper in each of the four bathrooms, an interactive book that projects a new image with every page turn and a virtual reality simulator so students can see the different dorms on campus.
Dining, grocery area open to public
The Welcome Center and other outside doors leads into a large dining area, which UO calls the Pacific Northwest Market.
The market has multiple dining options, such as pizza, salads, noodles and bowls. There's a small market where students can buy fresh produce and other groceries and staples for their rooms.
Next to that, facing out toward Agate Street, is Duck's House, a dining option akin to a sports bar, including the beer on tap.
All of these places in the market area will accept student meal points, Duck Bucks (which is money loaded directly onto a student ID card) and cash. The dining areas are open for anyone's use, not just students, faculty and staff.
Common living areas on second
The student living area begins on the second floor. It's key-card activated, so only those who live in the building will be able to reach the living area.
The second floor features a shared lounge space, laundry area, a small kitchen and areas for students.
It also houses four Academic Residential Communities, also known as ARCs, which allow students in the same focused programs to live and study together.
Top five floors devoted to dorm rooms
The dorm rooms are on floors three through seven. There are 695 beds in this hall, Griffel said, as well as two apartments for faculty who live in the residence hall.
The room sizes fall somewhere in the middle of the campus' other dorms—bigger than those in Justice Bean Hall and smaller than those in Barnhart—but the size depends on which type is selected.
There are 304 sleeping rooms for students, made up by 205 double rooms, 75 triples and 60 singles.
Doubles, which house two people, are the most popular type of rooms, are about 180 square feet, according to UO housing, not including bathroom's square footage.
Gone are the large bathrooms used by multiple rooms. Now, each room has its own 40-square-foot bathroom with a sink, toilet and shower.
What will it cost to live in new UO dorm?
The cost of living on campus continues to increase. The 2018-2019 school year was the last with any dorms priced under $10,000 for the year.
Now, the least expensive dorm option on a standard meal plan is a three-person room in Carson Hall at $13,002 a year.
Students living in Unthank Hall on a standard meal plan will pay between $14,488 and $19,692 a year, depending on their room size. The most a student could pay is $20,277 a year, for a single room on a deluxe meal plan.
What upgrades were included?
The building is more accessible than the previous dorm, with elevators and rooms that accommodate students with disabilities.
It is also more energy-efficient. There's a lot of insulation in the building, and the windows are triple- paned and all have trickle vents that let small amounts of air come in and out, Griffel said.
It doesn't quite qualify as a "passive house," which means no needed heating or cooling, but it's close, he said.
"A huge amount of money has gone into the building envelope, which allows for students to just use tiny amounts of energy. When it's cold outside, it will be warm in (the dorms) without students having to use much energy at all," he said.
"It's going to use, we think, about 80% less energy than the building before it."
What's next in the UO housing project?
The construction and opening of Unthank Hall is the first of three phases in the UO's $210
million Housing Transformation plan. The plan includes the construction of three new buildings for student housing, including Unthank.
Phase one included the leveling of the green space where Unthank Hall now is, which was fondly referred to by students as "the Humpy Lumpy lawn," and Unthank's construction.
The second phase is underway with the demolition of Walton Hall, located across from Unthank on Agate Street, which will be replaced with two new halls.
Phase Three will be the demolition of Hamilton Hall, just north of Unthank at 13th Avenue and Agate Street, so it can be turned into a new green space.
How is it being paid for?
The Housing Transformation plan is estimated to cost about $217 million, set to be completed in August 2024.
UO estimates needing $130 million for phases two and three.
The buildings are being paid for in revenue bonds, which will be paid off by the students living in the halls over 30 years, similar to how someone would rent to buy a home.
The Board of Trustees last month approved up to $120 million in new bonds for these final phases. This was on top of the $101 million in bonds they approved for the building of Unthank.