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Housing2000 Cubicle

Location: 5th floor of Stratton Student Center
Date: 10/31/96

One of the previously empty plexiglass cubes that sit on the 5th floor of the Student Center got refurnished for Halloween.

A "student", complete with notebooks, soda, and Chinese food, was placed along with some furniture in the cube. According to the proposal (JPEG image of the original) posted on the outside of the cube (see below), this was a "scale model prototype" of a "bold and innovative" solution to MIT's housing problem.

The MIT student in the cubicle seemed quite comfortable with her "spacious 48 cubic feet". She even had enough room to wear her propeller beanie.

Here is the text of the proposal:


MIT HOUSING 2000

As housing students becomes harder and more costly, more bold and innovative solutions are needed to solve MIT's student housing problem. The reengineering-inspired Housing 2000 aims to overcome this challenge by providing a new housing paradigm to take MIT into the next century.

Currently, many underclassmen get crowded into rooms with three, four, or even five other students. Under the bold Housing 2000 plan, all students, including incoming freshmen, will be provided with their own single rooms. In the spacious 48 cubic feet apportioned to them, they will be able to study, sleep, work and play without being disturbed. All rooms will be furnished with a comfortable futon, a stylish halogen lamp, and even a network connection.

The modular rooms of Housing 2000 will be inexpensive to construct. Their portability will enable them to be deployed in convenient locations around campus. Temporary units could be installed outside of Athena clusters, giving students a space to sleep in after long all-nighters.

The scale model prototype on display here for the next few days is a demonstration of what a Housing 2000 room might look like. Send comments to housing2000@mit.edu.


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Last modified: $Date: 2001/05/25 01:54:18 $