Students Enjoying Life in New Housing
Apartment style living comes to Carleton with the opening of 23 townhouse units.
The real world is going to come as a rude awakening for the 100 students who moved into Carleton’s new townhouses this January. The students living in the townhouses, complete with brand new appliances, matching furniture and wall-to-wall carpet, will have a difficult transition to the standard post-college basement apartments decorated with garage sale finds.
Senior Melissa Jensen of Rochester, Minn., moved into one of the units with four of her residence hall floormates. “We love it so far,” she said. “We picked this unit because we liked the design and the color scheme, and we’re really enjoying living here.”
Many townhouse residents wanted the independence of living in an apartment, yet still like the sense of community that comes with living on campus. Situated on the southwest edge of campus, adjacent to downtown Northfield, the houses are a natural link between town and campus.
The townhouses sit on two acres, and consist of 23 three- to six-person units in nine buildings. Each apartment includes cable television, access to the ResNet—the high-speed connection to the campus computer network and Internet—a washer and dryer, storage areas, kitchen appliances and furniture for the living room, dining room and bedrooms.
Each building is different, with unique combinations of one level and bi-level units and single and double rooms with different color schemes.
Because the townhouses are adjacent to a residential area, they were designed to preserve the Victorian character of that neighborhood. During the design stage, the Minnesota Sustainable Design Guide was used in order to ensure the environmental soundness of the buildings. Designers used the guide to consider the location of the homes, the selection of native plants for landscaping, and the usage of efficient appliances and durable materials.
While the interior construction of the buildings is complete, some exterior work remains. The houses will be painted this spring, and the grounds will be landscaped. A courtyard area will be added as well.