[Gsc-hca-family] [Gsc-hca-all] follow-up from meeting regarding Site 4 and Renters Insurance

[GSC-HCA]

Dear HCA,

As a follow-up from our HCA meeting last night, please see below some draft
language for an email to Dean Ortiz regarding the *Site 4 Grad Housing
Project *summarizing our position and concerns. Also attached below is
the *Draft
Renters Insurance Brochure* Information. If you have any comments or
questions on either the Site 4 email or the Renter's insurance, please
write to us at gsc-hca at mit.edu

Looking forward to your thoughts,
Huma
____________________________________________

Dear Dean Ortiz,

George and I wanted to follow up with you regarding the Site 4 graduate
housing. We have formed a consensus opinion among HCA and have also
consulted with Eastgate Excomm. We believe that having a mixed floor plan
where studio efficiencies would be located on the same floor with 1- and
2-bedroom units will cause quality-of-life issues for all residents.
Traditionally, family and single housing has been segregated in MIT grad
housing due to the different programmatic requirements of single vs. family
populations. This was something that was addressed very early in 2015 as a
key design criteria for this building. However, it seems that the *450
unit *allocation has been set as the overriding design criteria and due to
the fulfillment of code requirements regarding the building mechanical
systems layout, in order to fulfill that 450 unit number we have to
sacrifice the equally important criteria of designing residential and
common spaces that address the needs of different populations.

Additionally, we believe as this issue was introduced to us at the very
last minute during the 14th December 2015 Site 4 Design Meeting towards the
end of the meeting, it was not presented to us in a timely fashion to allow
any real consultation or deliberation of all the options. We would like to
open up this question and re-examine all the options regarding the total
number of units vs. floor layouts that address the needs of different
populations.

HCA and the Graduate Student Council is very excited to have a new graduate
housing project, especially with the promise of 250+ efficiency units.
However, we want to work with the administration to ensure that the design
also addresses fundamental quality of life issues for the future graduate
student residents and families. If this is not addressed now, it can lead
to *chronic* complaints and concerns regarding noise, hallway traffic,
different daily routines and use of common spaces.

We hope you will consider our position and present our concerns to the
other Site 4 stakeholders and decision-makers.

Kind regards,
Huma & George
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