Old Bricks, New Brooks

Brooks Hall, the oldest residence hall in use at Baylor, will say goodbye to its last residents in May to make way for the University's newest development in student living, Brooks Village. 

At its Feb. 3 meeting, the Baylor Board of Regents authorized the construction of Brooks Village, a 700-bed residential complex, at an estimated cost of $42.8 million. Regents also authorized construction of an $8.3 million parking complex on the southeastern part of campus and approved the issuance of up to $63.5 million in bonds to finance both projects in full. 

"The Brooks Village project is an important part of the University's 10-year Vision," said Baylor President John M. Lilley. "It will help us enhance the learning environment, move us toward a stronger residential campus and increase our ability to attract and retain top students." 

Named for Baylor's seventh president, Samuel Palmer Brooks, the current five-story residence hall was constructed in 1921. Among its former residents are Lilley and Board of Regents Chair Will Davis.

Dub Oliver, interim vice president for student life, said Brooks Village will consist of two separate facilities -- Brooks Flats and Brooks College. 

Brooks Flats, which will be designed similarly to North Village, will include 316 beds in a combination of four-person apartments. Each unit will have two bathrooms, a living room and a full kitchen. Feedback from current North Village residents helped shape the plans for Brooks Flats, particularly the inclusion of a full kitchen with dishwasher in every unit, Oliver said. 

The second part of Brooks Village is a 384-bed residential college called Brooks College, which will house freshmen as well as upperclass students.

"A residential college is something we haven't offered before at Baylor," Oliver said. "It's a different type of residential experience that a lot of universities have used, based on the classic Oxford or Cambridge model of an interdisciplinary residential experience."

Unlike the North Village and Alexander residential living-learning centers -- in which common academic courses unify the students -- a residential college is built around a common community of living, Oliver said. "That means that while residents may all be taking different courses and majoring in different subjects, they come together for common activities," he said. 

To encourage that feeling of community, Brooks College will include spaces that lend themselves to group socializing, such as an interior courtyard, junior and senior commons rooms, a library and a small chapel.

Another feature is the Great Hall, a two-story space with a vaulted ceiling, where family-style meals will be served once a week for residents, Oliver said. The room will be able to seat about 420 people for special lectures or meetings.

A faculty master, frequently found in residential colleges, also will be part of Brooks College, he said. 

"The idea is that the faculty master will live in the college over the course of many years," Oliver said. "The space we will create for the faculty master is almost 2,800 square feet, large enough to raise a family in. The faculty master will have a lot of identity within the college, and a lot of connection to residents."

The architecture of the residential college will incorporate many of the external features of the current Brooks Hall, including the landmark Brooks Arch and the bust of namesake Samuel Palmer Brooks.

"To preserve some of the features of Brooks Hall, we also will be saving some of its stones and using them in the construction of Brooks College," Oliver said. "I think people will be pleased with how the character of the old building is being preserved, because it's important to us to keep Baylor's strong sense of place."

Parking complex
The 800-car parking garage will be built between Eighth and Ninth streets across from Ruth Collins Hall and Mary Gibbs Jones Family and Consumer Sciences Building, and will include about 10,000 square feet of retail and office space. Its architecture will be similar to the East Campus Parking Garage.

Oliver said a groundbreaking ceremony will be held this spring, with the demolition of Brooks Hall scheduled to begin May 15. Both Brooks Village and the parking complex are expected to open by the fall 2007 semester.