Notes from FileMaker notes field: Language House designated to be the Spanish Language Dorm. REED’S NEW RESIDENCE HALL construction will conclude in early 2009 with completion of a new language house at the southeast end of campus near Woodstock Boulevard. The existing buildings became language houses in the 1970s, after several 1920s-era faculty houses designed by A.E. Doyle were turned into dorms. Today, the buildings each house fewer than 10 students, and offer a place where those interested in Spanish, German, French, Russian, or Chinese can live together and develop language proficiency. The houses hold weekly dinners and movie nights, and also host campus-wide celebrations such as Chinese New Year and Oktoberfest.

The newest language house will become home to the Spanish-speakers, allowing residents of the Chinese house, now located at the opposite end of campus, to join the cluster along Woodstock Boulevard.

While still relatively small, the new Spanish house—with 17 single rooms on three floors—will be about double the size of the existing language houses. Portland architects Hennebery Eddy designed the new building in dialog with the older structures crowded on the site. “Simply copying the style of the 1920s would not have been good design,” says Alan Osborne, the partner heading the project. “We’re working with traditional forms, but with a contemporary look.”

The new Spanish house will offer shared living and dining rooms, and a kitchen on the first floor, with bedrooms and study areas situated on the second and third floors. There will also be offices for language scholars and programming space to serve all the other language houses. And again, there is a cost to going small and providing so much space per student—approximately $3.5 million for the entire construction project.