Architecture and Buildings
The San Francisco architectural firm Campbell and Wong designed the buildings at Merrill College. Most of the original structures were completed by 1970. The Crown-Merrill Apartments were added in 1986.
Unlike the first colleges, Merrill does not consist of Bay Regionalist or Mediterranean buildings centered around formal quads. Instead, its structures present three key features: starkly modern and Scandinavian design, orientation around the redwood trees on the site, and playfully historical components such as the bridges to the residential towers, balconies with lattice railings, and the bell tower above the dining hall. The college hosts a range of colors, rust red and off-white residence halls. Merrill prominently features blue metal roofs for nearly every building, with the exception of the two main residence towers.
The Merrill circle, at the top of a driveway off McLaughlin Drive, is the formal entrance to the college. The college office and the academic buildings, with faculty offices, seminar rooms, and a lecture hall, are immediately behind the circle. Just below the main Academic Building are three smaller buildings. One contains the Charles E. Merrill Lounge, another is an annex of faculty offices and home to the Center for Justice, Tolerance, and Community; and lastly, the Casa Latina.
The college activities office and Tacos Moreno, a small Mexican food chain based out of Watsonville, California, are in a small building at the center of the college, adjacent to a small courtyard in front of the former dining hall.
Merrill has four primary residence halls. Lorde-Studds, Kochiyama, Bulosan and Gandhi-Kahlo House (usually referred to as "A Dorm" and "B Dorm" respectively) are in two large, five-story buildings that close a loose square with the dining hall and academic buildings. Two smaller houses, Chavez-Menchu and DuBois (C and D), are located to the East of the college circle and Ming Ong computer lab.
Near the college are buildings housing the Lionel Cantú GLBTI Resource Center, KZSC radio, and the campus Peace Corps office. The Crown-Merrill apartments are located across a ravine from the main college.
Most Merrill freshmen reside in the residence halls, with most sophomores in the college apartments. Upper-division students generally live off-campus.
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