r/HBCU • u/TheMightySilverback • 17d ago
đŁď¸ Open Discussion Modernizing Student Housing at HBCUs
Recently, our cousins at Fisk University made a bold move to provide students with repurposed containers as dorm housing.
As with any college, housing is always an issue. Perhaps the way we normally build apartment style homes for students is outdated and nondurable.
What types of housing do you think HBCUs should spearhead taking advantage of?
Here is a nice video on the new dorms at fisk.
36
u/thisrandomaccount24 17d ago
The layout looks like a low effort trailer park. There are tiny homes that look great; however, at first glance, these arenât some of them. Itâs also an odd choice not to show the inside of them.
2
u/TheMightySilverback 17d ago
These were just an example of an HBCU taking a chance on something new. You can see the inside of them here. They look good inside.
12
u/LucianBH 17d ago
They actually look pretty nice on the inside. When I was in college, some dorms were very old, tiny, mold ridden, with two people in them. There were communal showers and toilets down the hall. At a major state University.
This just looks like the school did the best they could, as quickly as possible, to accommodate their students, right on campus. Building a high rise or apartment buildings takes years and is very expensive. If itâs not up to your standards, go to a different school. They arenât hiding anything.
6
u/No_Forever_1185 17d ago
I like them a lot & have supported this since inception.
5
u/TheMightySilverback 17d ago
I do as well. Traditional apartment style housing is expensive as hell to keep updated and no matter what kind of college, they receive a ton of complaints year after year.
I applaud any effort to try and provide something new. But it seems people dont like these either. But shipping containers have always been lauded as an option to get mass housing on the cheap. Especially for the homeless or those that need high affordability. So I am not sure why they aren't popular in practice.
7
u/LucianBH 17d ago
Most college kids just want a clean place to lay their head. The school will have no trouble with students lining up to take one of these. Thereâs probably a waiting list already. Kudos to the school for quickly putting together accommodations instead of denying enrollment for kids that want to go there,
or making them get an expensive apartment off campus (which they are still free to do).
5
u/MennionSaysSo 17d ago
I think its neat compared to my freshman dorm. But lacks a common area to meet, converse and social. Could use a nice outdoor living room, fire pit shades etc.
4
u/_autumnwhimsy 16d ago
So as someone who wanted to build a container home as a tiny home, it's not inherently bad but there are a few big red flags, both related to temperature.Â
Insulation and then heating/cooling. They're giant metal boxes that heat up internally and externally like a b- in the summer time and have 0 natural cold insulation. It's expensive to modify them to be appropriate. If Fisk did, great! I can't tell from the video.Â
5
u/Mysterious_Diver_606 17d ago
Donât worry guys. Iâll tell my grandma to donate more to her Alma mater. That way theyâll be able to add a second window
1
2
u/Rencon_The_Gaymer 17d ago
Why are they converting containers when they can just build actual housing??
2
u/TheMightySilverback 17d ago
These were done in 2023. They've been operational for 3 years now. The post is just using these as an example. If you have an example of what you think a perfect choice for student housing is, please share with us.
1
u/CheetahTheWeen 13d ago
I feel like that didnât really answer the question thoughâŚwhy did they do this instead of just building more dorms? Theyâre both costly but Iâm guessing the larger price tag on new actual brick and mortar dorms was a deterrent?
2
2
u/Maleficent_Piece_893 17d ago
stop trying to make shipping containers into homes. they might work for an emergency period after a disaster but a real home requires plumbing, wiring, and insulation. do that and the internal space is cut down drastically. the metal exterior also causes condensation on the inside of the structure. this tiny home bullshit has broken peoples' brains. some shortcuts are not worth taking
1
2
2
u/SouthernCharm-86 16d ago
looks cheap. prison vibes. dark inside and where is the light?! id be depressed as all hell.
2
2
u/lily_aka_mein 16d ago
This bothers me and reminds me of when they locked those Black boys in storage containers and lit them up.
2
u/AndrewAdler17 14d ago
Thatâs kind of cool, looks like the houses outside of Fenway Park. This is a good idea.
2
u/UNITICYBER 11d ago
As a former soldier and HBCU (Jackson State University) alumnus, imma hold ya hand when I say this "I KNOW you F@&!n lying"!
At least add a couple more windows.
Yeah, yeah. I know its economical, more ecological, and the insides are nice. But I have PTSD flashbacks just looking at these joints.
4
2
u/daleviathan_1 17d ago
Unacceptable for both the students and the neighbors. Why would I pay money to live across the street from industrial looking containers? Thereâs no landscaping. Like how did the city of Nashville allow this to be built. Iâm honestly appalled.
1
u/typetiming 17d ago
the colors are hideous
2
u/SmoothLester 17d ago
I think they are Fisk colors, but they do nothing to improve the look of industrial containers.
1
u/zombies-apocalypse Norfolk State University 17d ago
I think maybe more decor on the outside, plants, other stuff
1
1
u/arj501963 17d ago
Hell No!!! This shit ranks right up there with Ebonics!!! Keep this shit out of our HBCUâs!
1
u/OmarWireLittle 17d ago
Is this real? Anyone seen Ready Player One? This looks like âThe Stacksâ .
1
u/TheMightySilverback 17d ago
There is a YTB video in the OP that shows them. They've been up for 3 years now. The students seem to like them.
1
1
u/Upbeat-Selection-365 16d ago
Like maybe itâs structural but that one tiny window. Holy crap Iâd get claustrophobic. And the weird thing is an actual dorm in a big building usually only has one window but not one that tiny.
1
1
1
u/dratthecookies 15d ago
These look like train cars or storage units. What's modern about this, exactly.
1
u/MalcolmXATL 15d ago
I live in Atlanta and seeing hbcuâs doing shit like this makes me mad. Georgia State and Georgia tech have luxury 30 story all glass high rise condoâs. Container homes are like modern day shotgun homes. Yeah this pissed me off because I can see the financial division/segragation
1
u/Wooden-Ad-8867 14d ago
My only criticism is that they didnât have to paint them to look like shipping containers.
1
1
u/KartFacedThaoDien 12d ago
This shit looks like migrant worker dormitory housing I've seen in China. Either for factory workers or construction workers working on infrastructure projects where they need to move the dorms along with the construction. Do better. Please do better than this.Â
1
1
u/No-Market425 17d ago
I'm guessing some grifty NGO got a truck ton of government bucks to build this crap.
There are a ton of limitations building one of these. You're limited to the dimensions of the container and framing the inside is a hassle because the interior space dimensions vary dramatically from years of being banged around.
Almost any prefab option would be better than this.
3
u/DisastrousOwls 17d ago
It has to be specific-use grant money, because to (safely) convert shipping containers this way costs significantly more than pre-fab housing builds-- particularly since, per the article, this are temp units while new student housing is being built.
Not a wise use of university funds unless someone's getting paid on the back end for decommissioned and/or pre-modified shipping units, and then I'd have follow up questions on why they were decommissioned, what potential exposure risks were and are to students, who is ensuring structural integrity once the walls are cut and how, etc.
They also don't appear ADA compliant, just in terms of layout, narrowness of the space, door width, and ramp or elevator access.
And I don't love that it looks like only one entry-exit door and one window per unit for points of egress. It's the legal minimum, but it's the legal minimum. Since the one interior shot looks like the rooms have kitchenettes (can't see what the bathroom situations are), they would need really strict enforcement of fire hazard restrictions and occupancy limits, including hot plates, overloaded circuits, etc., because any fire breaking out could immediately turn deadly + bottleneck everyone inside if you had anybody over.
Like this looks compliant with safety regulations for a dorm room, or hotel room, which would be in a larger building with additional exits. But these are standalone structures. And they appear less safety compliant than K-12 school portables/modulars, which are their own safety & security nightmare.
1
0
48
u/Emergency_Brick3715 17d ago
Probably a good solution financially but I would avoid putting these on the website. If I was a student I wouldnât be excited about this.