Dormitory
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- For other uses see: dormitory city
A dormitory or dorm is a place to sleep. The word derives from the French dormir, to sleep. Dormir, in turn, derives from the Latin word dorm, meaning a place to sleep.
Dormitories are usually referred to as "dorms." The word is used in three contexts:
- room with many beds (a sleeping dormitory) (common UK usage);
- building with many small private rooms (a dormitory building) (common US usage);
- A converted sleeper car used strictly as the staff's sleeping quarters on a passenger train. See Dorm car
Many colleges and universities are now using the term residence hall instead of dormitory. This is based on the concept that if a dormitory is a place to sleep, then the term "residence hall" coveys a learning atmosphere which many residential living quarters are today. In a residence hall, a student might find a faculty member living in a "faculty fellow" apartment, as well as additional classroom, work, and leisure space.
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Sleeping dormitory
A common usage of the term "dormitory" is for a large room with many single beds. This is the common UK usage. Examples are found in many rooming houses such as hostels, fraternities, sororities, and other scholarship halls. The room typically is a large room with very few furnishings except for beds. Such rooms can contain anywhere from two to hundreds of beds (though such very large rooms are rare except perhaps as military barracks). Such rooms provide little or no privacy for the residents, and very limited storage for personal items in or near the beds. Storage and personal space is often provided in other locations in the building, but these other locations are not usually called a "dorm".
Dormitory buildings
At boarding schools, colleges, and universities, the word dormitory is used to describe the entire building used to house students. It is this usage which is much more common in the United States. In UK universities these buildings are usually called Halls of residence, except at Oxford, Cambridge, and Durham where the residential accommodation is incorporated each college's complex of buildings, and there is no specific term for it (members of the college who live in its own buildings are said to be "living in college" or just "living in"). In the United States this terminology is often controversial at best among residence life professionals, who prefer the term "residence hall" or simply "Hall" over "dormitory" or "dorm".
Most colleges and universities provide (usually for a rental fee) single or multiple occupancy rooms for their students. These building are comprised of many such rooms, like an apartment building, and the number of rooms varies quite widely from just a few to hundreds. The largest dormitory building is Bancroft Hall at the United States Naval Academy.
Formerly, many companies in the U.S. and elsewhere housed employees in dormitories. This practice has dwindled, but continues in many other countries.
Dormitories have replaced barracks at many U.S. military installations.
Typically, these dorm rooms have about 15 by 15 ft (21 square meters) of floor space, and provide the following minimal furnishings:
- Twin bed (sometimes in a bunk-bed configuration)
- Desk
- Mirror
- Closet space (sometimes)
- Drawers (clothes storage) (sometimes)
- Window
- Sink with running water (rarely)
Most often, bathrooms are provided for a group of rooms, which provide shower, toilet, and sink facilities.
In the U.S., dormitories are most often segregated by gender, with men living in one group of rooms, and women in another. Some dorms are single-sex with varying limits on visits by persons of each gender.
Most dorms are much closer to campus than comparable private housing such as apartment buildings. This convenience is a major factor in the choice of where to live since living physically closer to classrooms means being able to sleep later and still arrive to class on time.
Examples
- University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, USA, Joseph R. Pearson Dormitory:
- Overall size: 6 floors of 36 rooms each (total 216 rooms approx.), typical population 380 (some people had single rooms);
- Room: 15 x 15 ft (21 m²), 3 feet (1 m) dual closet, with built in drawers, and lighted mirror alcove;
- Contents: Single-sized bed which folded into a couch (or bunk beds, by choice), desk, lamp (no sink);
- Bathrooms: One bathroom for 18 rooms, containing 5 shower stalls, 8 sinks, 4 toilets, and 3 urinals;
- Genders: Single sex dorm (for men), though in summer had men in one wing and women in the other;
- Extras: Cafeteria in basement, workout room, laundry room, elevators, lobby, music / piano room, game room;
While still serving the students of the University of Kansas, Joseph R. Pearson Hall was rennovated in the Fall of 1999 to provide a building for the School of Education.
- College of St. Catherine, St. Paul, Minnesota, USA, Stanton Hall Dormitory:
- Overall size: 3 floors with a total of 29 rooms;
- Room: 14 x 14 ft (18 m²) square, 3 feet (1 m) dual closet, lighted mirror alcove with built in drawers;
- Contents: Single-sized bed, desk, lamp (no sink);
- Bathrooms: One bathroom for 20 rooms;
- Genders: Single sex dorm (for women);
- Extras: Campus-wide cafeteria in another building, one 'kitchen/rec room' per floor, laundry, lobby / meeting room.
- University of California, Berkeley, California, USA, any Unit 1 (Cheney, Deutsch, Freeborn, Putnam) or Unit 2 (Cunningham, Davidson, Ehrman, Griffiths) Residence Hall:
- Overall size: 8 floors of 13 or 14 rooms each (109 rooms total per hall), about 230 students per hall;
- Room: 13.75 x 13.16 ft (16.8 m²), two 3 feet (1 m) dual closets, with built-in racks, two lighted mirrors, large cloth-covered cork panels (for pinups and posters) on either side, and an electric heater;
- Contents: 1 to 3 (depending on occupancy) single-sized bunkable beds, with a desk, chair, bureau, and drawer for each person;
- Bathrooms: One bathroom per floor, containing 4 shower stalls, 4 sinks, and 3-4 toilets;
- Genders: Halls originally designed as single-sex halls; today typically two floors are single-sex occupancy, the rest being co-ed floors; members of either gender are free to visit each other with resident's consent at any time;
- Extras: Broadband internet access (wired and wireless) throughout, kitchenette on ground floor, laundry rooms (on floors 2, 6, and 8), study lounges (all other floors), elevator, recreation lounge, trash chute; Unit-wide (underground) central building houses music / piano rooms, game / recreation room, computing center, and mailroom; A separate dining hall serves both Units 1 and 2
The Watterson Towers at Illinois State University are the tallest dormitory in the world. The 28-story complex, which was built in 1967 holds over 2,200 students.
The Valkendorfs Kollegium at the University of Copenhagen is a very old dormitory, founded in 1589. Though not as old as some of the colleges of Oxford and Cambridge, it is among the oldest dormitories in the world.
Housekeeping
University dorms typically have housekeeping staff to maintain the cleanliness of common rooms including lobbies and bathrooms. Students are normally required to maintain the cleanliness of their own rooms and private or semi-private bathrooms, where available. Stereotypically, college dorm rooms are small and messy; this stereotype has a strong basis in fact. College housekeeping may use a number of tools to clean common areas including mops, brooms, and sponges.
See also
- Halls of residence
- Watterson Towers
- The Old Dormitories of the University of Copenhagen
- University
- College
External links
nl:Studentenhuis pl:Dormitorium sv:Korridorboende zh:宿舍 da:kollegium