University of Virginia plans to build 2 new residence halls

News release: Three residence houses at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville will fall and two will rise up to take their places. This summer, Dobie, Balz and Watson houses will be replaced by two new residence halls that will house more students, be more efficient and more green. Construction should begin during the first week of August. Each of the two new buildings will be six stories tall. The first floors will hold public common spaces, seminar rooms, laundry and vending spaces, and an apartment for the resident adviser coordinator. Each upper floor will offer a common lounge and quiet study room. Each floor also will have two residential communities – each with10 to 12 double student rooms, a common bathroom and a resident adviser room. Between the new buildings, a new 7,000-square-foot commons building will provide an assembly space to accommodate residents of one house at a time. The construction is the latest step in a plan to replace 11 1960s-era residence houses with seven newer buildings.