Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

University of Maryland Opens New Residence Hall

  • By Matt Jones
  • 09/01/21

The University of Maryland in College Park, Md., has a new dorm on campus. Pyon-Chen Hall opened its doors in time for the fall semester to about 450 University Honors living-learning program students, as well as others. The 131,000-square-foot facility stands six stories and features single and double rooms.

According to the university website, the dorm is named after two trailblazing Asian-American students from the university’s past. Pyon Su was the first Korean student to earn a degree from a U.S. college or university, while Chunjen Constant Chen was the first Chinese student enrolled at the Maryland Agricultural College (UMD’s former name). The dorm is the first to open in the school’s new Heritage Community. A second dorm, Johnson-Whittle Hall, is set to open in 2022, and the community will also feature a new 70,000-square-foot dining hall.

Amenities include air conditioning; a central lounge space; private study rooms; private, unisex bathrooms; a multipurpose room; a 24-hour laundry facility; and a building kitchen. Each bedroom comes equipped with data jacks for telephone and computer use.

The Heritage Community project broke ground in summer 2019 and will span 15 years of both new dorm construction and the renovation of older dorms on campus.

“As we build new residence halls, we’re always looking to hear from students, to hear what they most need,” said Tracy Kiras, Resident Life assistant director for communications and marketing.

About the Author

Matt Jones is senior editor of Spaces4Learning. He can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  • CU-Lock Haven Receives $1.75M Gift for New Entrepreneurship, Media Center

    Commonwealth University-Lock Haven in Lock Haven, Penn., recently received a $1.75-million donation from entrepreneur and alumnus Nicholas Subich ’17, according to a university news release. The funds will go toward establishing the Nicholas Subich Center for Entrepreneurship and Media, a technology-driven hub for innovation and experiential learning.

  • Northeastern University Breaks Ground on New Housing Community

    Northeastern University recently announced the groundbreaking of a new student housing community on its campus in Boston, Mass., according to a news release. The university is partnering with American Campus Communities (ACC) for development of the project, which will have the capacity for 1,200 students and has a scheduled completion date of fall 2028.

  • Wold Architects & Engineers Announces Acquisition of JJCA

    Wold Architects & Engineers, based in Minneapolis, Minn., recently announced that it has acquired JJCA, an architecture firm based in Nashville, Tenn., according to a press release. JJCA specializes in healthcare and education design; the partnership allows both firms to expand their presence across the country while building on existing strengths.

  • Doerr School of Sustainability Accelerator

    From Concrete Warehouse to Innovation Hub: Accelerating Sustainability at Stanford

    The transformation of a once windowless, concrete publishing warehouse into a sun-drenched center for global innovation began with a single, fundamental challenge: how to turn an industrial storage shell into a space built for human connection.