RANDY METCALF/Arizona Daily Wildcat Students and visitors walk around at Villa del Puente during freshman move-in last week. Villa del Puente is UA's newest undergraduate housing facility.

Dance floor, grand piano among many unique amenities

When pre-business sophomore Sean McCleery first set eyes on his new home, he found himself strangely attracted to it.

"I have a thing for the newest dorms, and I think this is the biggest, greatest thing to come along to the UA," he said.

McCleery is one of 300 students who have moved into UA's newest residence hall, Villa del Puente, located at North Highland Avenue and East Sixth Street. The three-story coed dorm, housing fifty percent freshmen and fifty percent upperclassmen, is one of the newest and most elaborate residence halls on campus.

Villa del Puente features abundant amenities, including covered bicycle parking, a grand piano, a dance floor, a game room complete with ping-pong and pool tables and laundry facilities so residents can stay entertained while washing their clothes, a spacious courtyard, and a few suite-style rooms.

The residence hall consists of two buildings, with the second and third floors connected by a bridge. The design is part of a new plan, intended to foster a greater sense of community by having numerous small wings, with no more than 20 students to a wing.

"It's like communities within a community," said Juliette Duke, hall director of Villa del Puente.

The goal was to break down the space in a way so that friendships of eight to 10 people would form naturally, said Jim Van Arsdel, director of Residence Life. "It's designed to encourage and to speak to the needs of smaller groups," he added.

He spoke of residence halls such as Arizona-Sonora and Coronado, residence halls built in the 1960s, as poor examples of planning and design. "To talk about a single community for 800 people is unrealistic," he said.

With Villa del Puente and two other virtually identical residence halls still under construction, the university is trying to build spaces that are intended for both living and learning, with more of an emphasis on academics, he said.

Noise is compartmentalized due to the design of the buildings, he added, making it easier for students to study without distraction.

Although Villa del Puente is only a short walk away from the Student Union Memorial Center, residents won't have to walk to SUMC to eat for long. A first floor student union food service is scheduled to open in a year. It will be open to both residents and the public, and will include a small grocery store and delicatessen among other things, Duke said.

Villa Del Puente also houses the new Residence Life offices. They were previously located at the Babcock building, 1717 E. Speedway Blvd., as far away as two miles for some students.

Van Arsdel said he's glad to have all of the staff offices once again under the same roof. "It's incredibly nice to be in this location," he said. "We're much closer to the heart of campus, where we are better able to serve people."

Van Arsdel also said he was excited about the opening of Villa del Puente, and he is very happy with what he called the high quality of design and construction.

"We wanted to do it right because this is the one chance we have of building in a way that we can really be proud of," he said. "And it's neat once it's done to look back and say, ÎYeah, we accomplished that'."

His enthusiasm is shared by Villa del Puente residents. McCleery is a fan of the building's design, especially the "Great Room," where the grand piano is kept, but the biggest perk to him is the garbage.

"You don't have to go outside to take the trash!" he said.