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The University of Oregon is considering building a 500-bed residence hall to accommodate students while three other campus dorms are renovated.

The new dorm would be located at the east end of campus, due south of the Global Scholars Hall, and would allow school administrators to shift residents to the new rooms so that old rooms in Bean, Hamilton and Walton halls can undergo renovations.

Philip Farrington, director of campus planning, design and construction, said the renovations would take place sequentially in each of the older dorms, though he didn’t know how extensive the renovations would be.

Total project costs are estimated at $45 million, according to Farrington. The UO Board of Trustees on Dec. 9 met to discuss financing and preliminary plans for the dorm. They approved construction of the new dorm, according to Director of University Housing Michael Griffel, but did not yet approve renovation of the older buildings.

Griffel said the construction and renovation would take about 10 years to complete. Once the new dorm is online, the UO would begin leaving half of each older dorm, beginning with Bean, empty while renovations are underway. Once the first half of Bean is done, the other half will be left empty, with the overflow students living in the new dorm while the other half of the building is renovated. Hamilton would be renovated next and Walton last, Griffel said.

Farrington clarified that the new construction would not be located due south of the Many Nations Longhouse, as reported in the Register-Guard.

鈥淭hat led people to believe we’d be doing away with the Vivian Olum Child Development Center, which we’re not,鈥� he said. 鈥淚’ve gotten a few calls about that today.鈥�

Planners are waiting for board approval to begin the design process, Farrington said.

The dorm’s location 鈥� to the south and west of the longhouse 鈥� has potential to interfere with ceremonies at the tribal cultural center because of its placement with respect to the sun’s path through the sky, Farrington said.

鈥淧art of the challenge of design is to make sure the building respects existing cultural centers,鈥� he said. 鈥淭here are sun angles and winter solstice issues to consider.鈥�