The new Adohi Hall at the University of Arkansas is open and the first students have settled into their rooms.
Adohi Hall is on the south end of campus along Stadium Drive. It is located just east of Bud Walton Arena and south of Pomfret Hall. It includes three buildings and the projected construction cost is $79.6 million.
The two residential buildings on Stadium Drive are five stories each and provide approximately 200,000 square feet of living space and 708 beds, including room for five Living Learning Communities.
A third building, dubbed “The Cabin” joins the two residential buildings and provides a common area for gathering.
Adohi is the only residence hall project in the United States to use cross-laminated timber and the first multi-story advanced-timber structure in Arkansas. This construction material creates much less waste than materials like concrete or steel.
A few finishing touches are underway on the building, including exterior landscape work and a new parking lot being built across the street.
MOVING IN
Hundreds of students moved into the facility this August during move-in.
New residents and their families were greeted by University Housing staff, between Aug. 16 and 19, who helped them carry belongings from their cars to their new rooms.
“The volunteers were friendly and eager to help,” said Becky Antes, the mother of a freshman moving into Adohi Hall.
“I feel so good about leaving my daughter here,” Antes said. “I never lived in a dorm in college, so I wasn’t sure what to expect.”
Madelyn Holiman, a freshman music business major from Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, was nervous in the weeks leading up to move-in, “but [her] room is gorgeous, and the whole housing is incredible,” she said.
CREATIVE COMMUNITY
Holiman chose to live in Adohi because of the music Living Learning Communities. She plays the trumpet for the university’s marching band and is excited about the unique community.
Students in the communities live alongside others who share their interests. These communities also provide unique access to faculty members and a variety of events and study groups.
Adohi Hall’s multidisciplinary communities are focused in these areas:
- Architecture and Design
- Art
- Entrepreneurship and Innovation
- Music
- Theatre
“Although it is not a requirement, many students living in Adohi are pursuing majors in art, music or architecture”, said Mary Peacock, creative community coordinator for University Housing.
The Creative Community space is located on the first floor of the southernmost building, Adohi South.
The creative community is open to residents living in the hall and designed to enhance their academic experience by giving them access to tools and training in the creative arts.
The space features:
- Music practice rooms
- Movement studio
- Graphic design studio
- Indoor and outdoor performance areas
- Recording studio and green room
- Maker space with 3-D printer and software, laser cutter, sewing machines, soldering equipment and other crafting tools
- Paint room which allows the exhaust from the paint fumes to be extracted
Adohi Hall is the first new residence hall to open on campus since Founders Hall in 2013. The Maples neighborhood, including Maple Hill East, Maple Hill South and Maple Hill West, were constructed in two phases between 2007 and 2008.
WHY ADOHI?
Adohi is a Cherokee word that means “coming into the forest.”
It was chosen as the name of the new hall because of the use of timber in the design and to honor and remember the native people who passed near the area during the Trail of Tears period.
There is a marker south of the hall that recognizes the passage of those native people as they traveled to Oklahoma.
University of Arkansas officials consulted with the Cherokee Nation Speaker Bureau to ensure the word’s meaning was used appropriately before using the word “Adohi.”
“The Cherokee Nation has a long and storied history in Arkansas, where our ancestors once settled around Fort Smith as old settlers and thousands walked through what is now Fayetteville on the Northern Route of the Trail of Tears in 1838-39. Today, we have 13,000 of our tribal citizens living in the state of Arkansas, and we also have 5,000 students on college scholarships with many of those earning degrees at U of A,” former Principal Chief Bill John Baker said.
“What a great honor to have this new, beautiful residence hall incorporate our Cherokee history and contributions by naming it Adohi Hall,” he said.
Visit University Housing’s Adohi Hall webpage for more information and updates about the project.
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