High Rise Horizon

From the top of the 38th Street Footbridge, an onlooker can casually glance eastward and gaze at the picturesque Philadelphia skyline. Turning in the other direction to look westward that same pedestrian notices the University's own skyline, three 24-story towers that house about 2,500 University students. And while Liberty Plazas One and Two are symbols of a city that is trying to forge an exciting new future, many University administrators say they fear that the concrete obelisks in SuperBlock represent isolation and alienation. When the high rises were built in 1970 and 1971 they were a response to University students' desire to have apartment-style living on-campus. However, the new catch phrases for Residential Living programs in the 1990s are terms like virtual colleges and Living/Learning houses. Acting Vice Provost for University Life Valarie Swain-Cade McCoullum said she thinks there is a certain sense of "anonymity" in the high rises. McCoullum said she hopes to implement immediate changes in order to make the high rises seem like an "environment that feels psychologically more like a family gathering space." Vice Provost in the Provost's Office Kim Morrisson, the former VPUL and author of a 31-page report entitled "Residential Planning for the 21st Century," said she thinks some ideas need to be tested in the high rises. Morrisson suggests that dining halls or possibly even a fitness center be created on one of the floors of the high rises. "A significant problem in the buildings is that they don't offer gathering places, no general purpose place where you see everyone else," she said. Some changes that may take place over the summer are the addition of recreational equipment, like table-tennis tables, and creating spaces where students can meet informally with other students or faculty members, McCoullum said. "I want some immediate visible symbols that here is a place where someone can be at rest and do their best work," McCoullum said. She added that the high rises can be made more exciting places in which to live. And this atmosphere can be created by simply adding color to the lobbies of the buildings, McCoullum said. "My goal for the end of my term is to make immediate visible changes so that students can see and feel a difference in the High Rise environment as soon as next fall semester," she said. Director of Residential Maintenance Lynn Horner said money is budgeted each year for the "showcasing" of University dormitories. As part of the showcasing program, the entire building, including student rooms and common areas, will be repainted. Carpeting in corridors will be replaced and reupholstering in common areas will be done. Horner said such showcasing took place in High Rise South last summer and will be done in High Rise North this summer. McCoullum said she also thinks an upgrading of audio-visual equipment is necessary in the high rises to make them more attractive to students. Steps in this direction began this year with the implementation of the University's ResNet system. The ResNet system was installed last summer in High Rise North and will be installed in the other two high rises this summer. ResNet provides students with the capability for private phone lines, EtherNet connections and cable television. The cable television service, however, has encountered several difficulties throughout the year. Before switching from a system that transmitted infrared waves to a microwave-based technology, many High Rise North students suffered through periods where they had terrible reception on local channels and no cable service at all. Chris Cook, the coordinator of ResNet's video service, said the new system is working well except for occasional problems with channels two thru 13. With the new microwave system successfully in place, Cook said he does not think there will be as many problems in High Rise South and High Rise East next year. "This year was very valuable in learning which technology will work in this environment," he said. · In the long term, University officials say they would like to see the high rises become more like the Living/Learning Programs that currently exist at the University. "My preference would be that the buildings be made more conducive to community life," said Residential Living Director Gigi Simeone. Morrisson, who is currently involved with longer range planning for Residential Living, said the question that needs to be addressed is whether the high rises can "function as virtual college frameworks." The virtual college is an idea which would exist as a programmatic assignment beginning in a student's sophomore year. According to Morrisson's 1992 report, a student will live in a first year house and then will choose or be assigned to a certain college for the remaining three years at the University. Students from all four undergraduate schools will be part of the college and various programs will link them together. Morrisson's plan calls for the construction of actual dormitories to house juniors and seniors affiliated with a specific college so that the college is not only a programmatic, but physical reality. In order for this plan to materialize in the high rises, however, there needs to be "cosmetic and realignment changes" in the buildings, Morrisson said. McCoullum said she believes the smaller living/learning communities, such as the Community Service Living Learning Program in the Castle and Arts House in High Rise East, have been successful. "The programs that are working well now are models for what we can achieve," she said. Overall, McCoullum said she thinks common space is the key to creating a "neighborhood" like atmosphere in the high rises. "We should create neighborhoods in the buildings where people can come together as community members and freely associate," she said. "The lack of lounge space, practice and performance space and common dining space impedes this." Simeone said, however, that the Community Living program in the high rises provides evidence to refute the fact that the high rises foster isolation. About 650 students, a quarter of all students living in the high rises next year, will be part of the Community Living program, a program that allows groups of friends to live on the same floor together. "There is a lot more interaction going on in the high rises than people assume," Simeone said. · If the high rises are to remain viable residential choices for students, many structural changes need to take place, University administrators said they realize. Simeone said since many students list the desire for more private bedroom space as a major reason to move off-campus, some rooms with shared bedroom space are being converted to create more private bedroom space. And in her report, Morrisson stated that there needs to be a committment to "fund, as soon as possible, the deferred maintenance and capital improvements necessary in the high-rise residences." This will amount to about $36 million for fiscal years 1992 to 1996. Horner said this funding would be used primarily to upgrade the interiors of student rooms and elevators. Kitchen units and fixtures in the bathrooms would be replaced. New carpets and draperies would be installed and new furniture provided. Unfortunately the funding is not available yet, Horner said. "We're very happy to undertake the work if the money is available," she added. Simeone said she thinks another reasonable goal for the high rises will be to have a lounge on each floor in order to add more common meeting space. Presently, lounges are located on even numbered floors only. To do this, rooms on the odd numbered floors where the lounges would be built would have to be eliminated and converted into lounge space. Simeone said financial resources currently unavailable will need to be found in order to make these reconfigurations. And by converting bedrooms to lounges, revenue from student rent payments would be lost. According to Morrisson's report, 68 bedspaces will be converted into lounge spaces in order to have a lounge on every floor of the High Rise buildings. McCoullum said she does not want these changes to drastically increase room and board rates for students. She said any future plans have to "recognize the current sacrifice that Penn students and their families make when they choose our institution." "We will need lots of friends, donors and alumni that will partner these changes," McCoullum said. Morrisson said she believes that if money can not be raised via a development drive, than the floating of a bond issue will be required. She added that it is imperative to raise $36 million, not for the conversions and reconfigurations, as much as for the replacement of systems in the interiors of student rooms. Things like kitchen facilities and furniture have "simply worn out," Morrisson said. It is often heard that the high rises are "worn out" because they are only temporary. Simeone disputes this argument as a "myth." And Morrisson says it would be foolish to believe that the high rises are only temporary structures. The construction of the high rises was funded by a bond issue of $56.6 million, according to Morrisson's report. The debt, currently totalling about $36 million, will not be paid off until sometime between the years 2006 and 2012, Morrisson said. "You don't put a 30-year mortgage on temporary housing," she added. Morrisson said she thinks the "mythology" was partially substantiated by the fact that the high rises were built to "allow greater ease of internal design." Walls can be moved fairly easily in order to make structural changes, she said. McCoullum said that even if the high rises were meant to be temporary, it is not be possible to have a residential program and still be able to house the number of students that request housing without some sort of high-rise towers or buildings. She said there is simply not much room for physical expansion, and this limits the University's options for housing. McCoullum said rather than discuss reasons why the high rises should be torn down, it is important to engage in long-term planning to see how the buildings can be "retro-fitted" in order to fit into the University's plans for residential living programs in the next century. But despite all the debate about how to improve the high rises and make them more like the smaller Living/Learning programs, there is one aspect that all can appreciate as a benefit of high rise living, especially from the uppermost floors. "You sure can't beat the views," Simeone said.

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