Facilities
As a dormitory, Risley offers a unique living experience. The Tudor Gothic building itself is shaped like a large red castle, modeled directly on Hampton Court Palace in England. The architect, William H Miller, was requested to design the floor plan such that no two rooms would be identical. Consequently, the rooms vary greatly. Sizes range from a single room that is 93 square feet (9 m²), a former maid's room, to a double room that is 273 square feet (25 m²), the largest double on campus. Room features include balconies, fireplaces, dumbwaiter shafts, secret stairwells, bay windows, embrasures, and turrets. At the request of Andrew Dickson White, the Risley Great Hall was constructed as a smaller scale replica of Oxford's Christ Church's own dining hall. According to campus legend, its gargoyles represent the fourteen stages of botulism. In an effort to be more eco-friendly and conserve water, RisDining has done away with trays. Risley Dining is the only dining facility on North Campus to have eliminated the use of trays.
In order to fulfill its purpose of encouraging creativity, the residence offers a variety of outlets. All residents have access to Risley Theater (the only fully student-operated theater at Cornell), music practice rooms, pianos, workshops for art, digital music, jewelry, sewing, letterpress, video editing, woodworking, metalworking, stained glass, and pottery, as well as a recording studio, a darkroom, and a small library. Unlike other houses, the affairs of the building are managed by an elected student government, "Kommittee," which determines the budget, use of facilities, and allocation of funds. Kommittee even allows students to paint the interior walls of the building, which has resulted in numerous murals on all the hallways painted by the residents. On many Fridays or Saturdays throughout the school year, the students run a coffee house, "Tammany," where regional bands come to perform. Students have created numerous special interest groups/clubs to meet their interests including a debate society ("The Society for Individualists"), Superhero Club (commonly referred to as Ris-S.H.I.E.L.D.), and a classic video gaming group ("Nintendo Church") among others.
Read more about this topic: Risley Residential College
Famous quotes containing the word facilities:
“Marriage is good enough for the lower classes: they have facilities for desertion that are denied to us.”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)
“I have always found that when men have exhausted their own resources, they fall back on “the intentions of the Creator.” But their platitudes have ceased to have any influence with those women who believe they have the same facilities for communication with the Divine mind as men have.”
—Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815–1902)