~ * Home Sweet Home * ~
As many of you have heard, Qatar Foundation is building some new residence halls. But these aren’t just ANY residence halls. These halls were designed to reach Platinum LEED certification (that’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design - LEED) from the US Green Building Council.
What’s so great about that you say? Well, these halls will have a zero-carbon footprint. They will use cutting edge technology to reduce energy and water use (and misuse) while producing part of their electricity by solar panels, helping lower our dependence on fossil fuels. AND they will have amazing social and study space, 600 single residence hall rooms with private bathrooms (300 for males and 300 for females), as well as more than 150 state of the art apartment spaces for one or two students in each apartment for each complex, a dining facility at each complex and a Community Learning Center with all of the technology needs for students to work and study in a mixed-gender environment.
The vision for these new residence halls is to seamlessly blend the out-of-classroom learning experience with the in-class academic experience. Students will be able to monitor energy use with a focus on how behavior impacts the natural environment. In addition, Housing and Residence Life will be able to undertake new and innovative programming and living-learning communities to help students combine their academic focus with the residential environment.
So when will these incredible facilities be available for occupancy??? Soon. But not right away. You can see the female site peeking over the construction walls across from the QF Headquarters building (the male site is out past the Student Center and is also peeking over the walls there). We anticipate they will be available for occupancy in 2012-13. We are looking forward to the many exciting changes we have in store for the coming years and hope that you are as well!
