Blakeley Hall reopens following renovation providing facilities and neighborhood for sophomores

Blakeley Hall, beforehand a dorm for graduate college students in The Fletcher School, has reopened for the 2025–26 tutorial 12 months as a sophomore dorm after a three-year renovation that was accomplished this summer season.

To accommodate undergraduate college students, the constructing — initially constructed in 1927 — was utterly gutted internally and rebuilt to incorporate a mixture of double and single rooms with sq. footage corresponding to that of different sophomore dorms like Harleston Hall and Haskell Hall, based on Christopher Hogan, this system supervisor for building on the Medford/Somerville campus.

In addition to frequent areas, school rooms and a kitchenette, Blakeley gives distinctive options not discovered in lots of different dorms on campus, together with single-stalled gender-neutral loos, air-con, an elevator and, for now no less than, free laundry.

Perry Doherty, affiliate director of residential operations, defined in a press release to the Daily that the transforming of Blakeley was a part of a broader housing technique at Tufts to accommodate bigger class sizes.

“Our housing strategy is to maximize the number of undergraduate student beds to enable us to house as many students on campus as possible,” Doherty wrote. “Allocating Blakeley to sophomore housing meant that we were able to adjust the allocations of other spaces on campus to ultimately increase the number of spaces available to juniors and seniors.”

Administrators additionally thought of the elevated scholar want for sure facilities when planning Blakeley’s renovation to create a dorm that higher meets the wants of residents.

“Residential Life examined data from student housing accommodations from the StAAR Center and the Office of Equal Opportunity when considering different designs for Blakeley,” Doherty wrote. “More and more students need and prefer access to an elevator, single use bathrooms, single rooms, and air conditioning so it was very important the renovation included those features.”

Hogan informed the Daily that the dorm consists of a number of accessible options in compliance with The Americans with Disabilities Act, in addition to sustainability issues.

“The building was constructed with a keen eye towards sustainability and accessibility,” he wrote. “From a sustainability perspective, the building includes a number of meaningful energy saving improvements, including insulation and new, triple-glazed windows. The building uses electricity and steam from the campus Central Energy Plant, which provides more efficient energy than would be provided by a utility or onsite equipment.”

Students residing in Blakeley mentioned the brand new options make a major distinction.

Maria Zarela Requena, a sophomore residing in a double on the primary flooring of Blakeley, highlighted a few of her favourite facilities, such because the school rooms and free laundry machines.

“I like the study rooms, they look amazing,” Requena mentioned. “I also like that we have AC. … It looks really beautiful and it’s new.”

Requena additionally expressed aid that she was in a position to transfer in, because the college had reportedly informed incoming residents they is likely to be housed in a lodge if renovations weren’t accomplished by the beginning of the autumn semester.

She mentioned, nevertheless, that the dorm — which is located between Fletcher Field and Houston Hall — just isn’t conveniently positioned close to different sophomore dorms.

“This is a little bit controversial. … I don’t like [Blakeley’s location] as much because we’re in a corner of the campus,” she mentioned.

Haydn Reilly Hogan, a sophomore residing in a Blakeley double, mentioned the elevator was significantly useful throughout move-in resulting from her ACL harm.

“The elevator was a lifesaver,” she mentioned. “[It] was super helpful to get all our stuff up to our rooms during move-in.”

Reilly Hogan additionally pointed to the school rooms and air-con as vital enhancements in comparison with her dorm final 12 months.

“Last year [my dorm] only had the common room and I think a lot of dorms are like that. They just have one general space where people can go,” they mentioned. “The study rooms are so nice and they’re quiet.”

While typically happy with the dorm, Reilly Hogan identified just a few minor points with the dorm.

“The single-use bathrooms get basically flooded sometimes,” she mentioned. “The stove in the kitchen is super complicated to work. You have to get an app. … I just can’t figure it out.”

Despite these points, Reilly Hogan praised the dorm’s robust sense of neighborhood and mentioned they would suggest it to a rising sophomore.

“There’s a lot of people in Blakeley who are super chill and really nice, and you can just say hi to anyone when they’re in the hall,” she mentioned.