Last year, the space in front of Ellicott was a major construction site. Now, a gleaming tribute to architecture and technology stands proudly for all the campus to see. Greiner Hall is officially open, and students are loving it.
This new dorm holds 600 sophomores who were chosen to live there by a lottery system last spring. They are the first to live in the building, which means that everything is brand new and in pristine condition. The suite style living spaces contain two double rooms, a bathroom, and a storage area. Each floor also has a lounge, kitchen, and laundry room, and the building was designed with state-of-the-art technology.
Along with the rooms, the hall also houses classrooms, meeting rooms, and a new eatery on campus called Au Bon Pain with seating for 50. The building is Gold Certified in the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Green Building Rating System (LEED), right on track with the University's many green initiatives. Roofed bike racks designed by UB Architecture students encourage students to use their bikes as a greener form of transportation, and the surrounding trees and landscaping fit in perfectly with the clean, green theme.
Naturally, the chosen students are pretty excited about living in the new dorm. "I love everything about it," said Kelsey Clark, a sophomore Biomedical Sciences major. "Everything is so much nicer and cleaner and just more friendly looking."
The inside of Greiner Hall is in pristine condition, with smoothly running elevators, window-walled lounges, and expansive hallways peppered with sleek benches. The rooms themselves can be compared to a hotel, with high ceilings, white walls, and plenty of windows to brighten up the dorm.
"Greiner's rooms are much bigger than [my dorm] was for me last year." said Tom Sisti, a sophomore Pre-Pharmacy major. "We can easily fit twice as many people in our room as we could last year. It's also different having a big walk-in closet and your own bathroom."
Greiner is the only dorm on campus with air conditioning, something that students are definitely appreciating this time of year. Residents can control the temperature of their own rooms, creating the perfect atmosphere for studying, relaxing, or even some partying.
The hall also introduced new, modern furniture for the residents to place around their rooms as they wish. The flexible-use furnishings give the rooms a nice touch and add to the atmosphere that the building creates. The hall has also stepped up the security, with residents having to swipe in each time they use the elevators as well as to get in to the dorms.
But the lucky few who made it into the dorm aren't complaining. "Everything is so much better than last year," Clark said. "There's an automatic light in each room, huge lounges on every floor, and an amazing kitchen."
While living in Greiner Hall definitely has its perks, residents have noticed some drawbacks as well.
"Parking kind of stinks," Sisti said. "It's not easy to find a spot, and if you do it's probably pretty far away from the building."
Since Greiner is a new building, there have been a few things that needed to be worked out, like a water leak that caused the residents to lose their water on the second day of living in the dorm.
All in all, UB has done a great job with Greiner Hall. The views are great, the hallways sparkle, and the living is pretty easy.
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