All it takes is a peek inside Cambridge Hall to see the newly-renovated dorm is tailor-made for University of Maryland students.
“There’s a lot of Maryland pride in this building,” said Brian Snyder, the associate director of projects for Residential Facilities. “You’ll see our colors scattered throughout the building, even in the furniture fabric and on the walls.”
Cambridge Hall — a residence hall on North Campus — reopened last week for this year’s freshman class after a year of renovation. The building now boasts air conditioning, more study spaces and improved natural lighting.
“It follows our strategic plan, so if you go on the Resident Life website and you can … see our focus on community space and building those lifelong bonds and I think we’ve accomplished that,” Snyder said.
Each floor of the residence hall has an expanded study lounge with a kitchenette and two additional study rooms to foster a communal environment, he said.
The bathrooms have also been updated with new appliances, tiling and accent tiles, and are “even nicer than some fancy hotels,” said Snyder.
In addition to community bathrooms, the building also contains gender-neutral bathrooms, compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Residents’ rooms within the hall are equipped with fan cooling systems, LED lights and new windows to provide better insulation, Snyder said. Closet doors were also removed to allow for more space, making Cambridge the first residence hall on the campus without closet doors, Snyder added.
The basement of Cambridge possesses five additional study rooms that are furnished with whiteboards and a variety of seating options.
These community spaces, which Resident Life pushed to include in the building, helped freshman finance major Nathan Dessalegne meet more people who he was living with, he said.
“I think it’s really cool that we get to be the first that experience it,” he said. “It’s a really nice place. It’s clean and it’s quiet.”
Freshman Yair Pincever was especially impressed with the bathrooms and air conditioning systems in the residence hall.
“The air conditioning is great, and it’s overall really great,” the aerospace engineering major said. “I wish it was a little bigger, but besides that it’s great.”
