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Van Reken Hall (pronounced ‘van-REEK-en’)
whose legacy of support for students whose parents are missionaries has aided hundreds of Calvin students over the years
The Kalsbeek-Huizenga site was chosen after careful consideration of various issues
Design and construction plans included environmental and sustainability issues
There are multiple ways to enter van Reken hall
The basement of van Reken is not built out yet
but those plans will be made in future years
Full access to the Kalsbeek and Huizenga basements is available
Many trees and native plantings have been planted around the building
The rooms are roughly the same square footage as every other residence hall room
though the bathroom and closets are laid out differently
Extra storage in the bathrooms is a big plus
The room is equipped with air-conditioning
though you won’t need it most of the year (it’s primary use will be for summer programs that may be located in this new wing)
The AC for the entire suite will be controlled by one thermostat in the closet
so it's important for suitemates to communicate well about when to use it
will come from the register under the window
vR residents are able to control the amount of heat for their individual room by rotating the knob on the register to the desired setting
only the one with the screen actually opens (so don't break the other one trying to open it!)
The floors of van Reken hall were designed with a central lounge
and two separate hallways branching from this lounge
This design gives us flexibility in using half of the floor for men and half for women
Residents share the lounge and floor kitchen
but access to each other’s wings is limited by open house hours
just like every other floor on campus) will be served by both a male and a female RA
Each floor has recycling collection bins in the floor kitchen
updated fire codes prevented the installation of stoves
but a number of other appliances will be provided
Students who apply to live here are motivated by the theme—they want to go deeper
but in a more casual and integrated way than a normal class
While the floors have unique aspects of intentionality
they also have all the elements of traditional residence hall living on-campus
As part of the Kalsbeek-Huizenga-van Reken residence hall
you’ll be part of a bigger community as well as part of a smaller focused floor
we learned during the development of this project that the LEED sustainability requirements had changed
The new Requirements (LEED v2.2) included a requirement of at least two points in the Energy and Atmosphere Credit to Optimize Energy performance
This meant a minimum Energy Performance improvement of 14%
Given the restrictive nature of the design intending to be similar to the existing dorms
the improvements could only reach an 11% improvement
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