“The essence of interior design will always be about people and how they live. It is about the realities of what makes for an attractive, civilized, meaningful environment. – Albert Hadley
When Eaton Residential College opened in 1954, it was an “ultra-ultra dorm” and the pinnacle of student housing. However, 70 years and one renovation later, it’s now the oldest dormitory on campus and in dire need of a makeover. The general ambiance of Eaton is cold and unwelcoming, a stark contrast to the lush, picturesque landscaping and newer buildings of the University of Miami campus.
As you leave paradise and step into the lobby, you’re met with fluorescent lights, linoleum tiling and cinderblock walls. The dorms themselves boast the same but are accented with a dormitory furniture set of little consequence, and my personal favorite of their 1950s furnishings, an accordion closet door. Now, while UM is not alone in their outdated and underwhelming dorms as many colleges across the country offer the same housing options to their students. Why are we making students live in spaces HGTV couples would call “a fixer upper with potential” all the while paying above average salaries in tuition? But there’s no need to call for Chip and Joanna when UM has its own architecture school.
Benedetto Rebecca, creator of The Dorm Room Edit initiative, is a 2024 graduate of the five-year Bachelor of Architecture program from the University of Miami School of Architecture. As a student, Rebecca created a visionary project aimed at transforming student dormitories into spaces that are not only functional but also reflective of students’ personalities and needs. He chose to advocate for students’ quality of life and apply his arsenal of skill and knowledge to something tangible.
“It started in 2021, when I began posting photos of my room to Instagram with tips and tricks on how to ‘live beautifully’ in a dorm. As the years went on, it’s turned into my initiative as an architect to change the way we see dorms from an architectural, interior, and decorative aspect,” said Rebecca, who has a great eye for design, seen not only in his interior design work, but in his paintings, architectural photography and personal style as well. “I decided as my last undergraduate studio [project] it would be great to propose an interior renovation plan of the dorm that I lived in.”
Established architecture photographer, Steven Brooks, who is also a professor at the School of Architecture noted the following:
“Rebecca transformed his dour dorm room into a highly personal space with warmth, character and functionality. Students who dropped in to see him had two basic comments how did you manage to do this? And, more importantly, why don’t our rooms look like this?”
Brooks alludes to the true impact of Rebecca’s passion project as it not only caught the eye of fellow students, but notable magazines as well such as “Apartment Therapy.” Graced with the confidence of his own dorm room makeover’s success, he sought out to make a bigger impact and hopefully help future students in the process.
Eaton Residential College has a central lobby floor with two double loaded wings and exterior staircases. The three residential floors above offer either single or double rooms. For those who have not experienced the joy of being in one these rooms, please heed the following description: the double rooms have two closets with shelving and a dresser, two desks and two twin XL beds, along with a single glazed wall. A jack-and-jill bathroom is shared with an adjoining double room, and features one toilet, two sinks and a comically small walk-in shower. Similarly laid out, the single room has one closet, desk, dresser and twin XL bed with a private bathroom. While all facets of the residential college were addressed with well researched changes at the hands of Rebecca, the dorm room transformations were the most notable.
“It is a well-worn cliché that environment influences behavior, attitude and performance. College freshmen, in particular, are acutely influenced by their surroundings. Sensitivity to dormitory and dorm room design should be of paramount importance as new facilities are built and older ones refurbished,” remarked Brooks in response to the importance of creating inviting spaces for students.
Constrained by the policies set forth by Housing and Residential Life, as well as the hypothetical budget the school would have for such a renovation, Rebecca had to get creative in the ways he transformed each room whilst still prioritizing comfort and flexibility. The minimal square footage of the single suites propelled him to focus on maximizing storage in his new plans.
Rather than frame new walls, a skim coat was to be applied to existing surfaces creating a smooth, even finish, which was a design choice emulated in the double rooms as well. In most instances of modular design as needed for dormitory housing, built-ins are an optimal choice. Rebecca chose to design built-in beds with storage below, a closet, and a built-in desk with bookshelves and space for a mini fridge. The extra storage adds to the appeal of the more private single suites. Similar logic of built-in furniture was used in the proposed configuration for the double-room suites and some improvements to the jack-and-jill bathroom.
“I think the strength of the Dorm Room Edit was the vision curated through the designs that made the units seem like more than just dorms,” shared Professor Jose Gelabert-Navia, another faculty member at the School of Architecture.
The Dorm Room Edit initiative was culminated by an exhibition at the end of the spring 2024 semester in the Korach Gallery at the School of Architecture. Rebecca crafted an atmosphere of luxury within the walls of a classroom, transforming the space with hand selected furniture, fabric boards, artful photographs, paintings of his own making and sleek presentation posters depicting the design process — all of which emulated the spaces he aimed to create in Eaton.
Professor Gelabert-Navia spoke of The Dorm Room Edit as an extension of the philosophies taught at the University of Miami School of Architecture.
“We don’t teach following a strict set of instructions, rather we teach with a focus on architecture as art. It was truly reflected in Benny’s work, and it was great to see his own paintings and photographs included in the exhibition,” said Professor Gelabert-Navia.
As students, we find ourselves making sacrifices to live in affordable or on campus housing, paying for a living situation that is often diminishing to our quality of life. The era of young adulthood is a time of personal growth and development, where we begin to craft our own lives, and it is imperative that we have a good foundation and living space to do so. Rest and relaxation are as important as learning and working are to our future success, which is reason enough for better student housing options to exist.
Rebecca echoes these sentiments noting, “College is such a transformative time of life. I believe it’s important to create spaces that make students feel at home and welcomed in their new environment. I feel some schools forget that they have a major responsibility to make students feel at home and don’t create spaces that have substance to them. Schools should want students to look back on their college experience and love every second of it, even the dorms.”
As we prepare for the fall 2024 semester and the unveiling of UM’s most recent student housing initiative, Centennial Village, students can only hope to see housing and residential life step in a positive direction.
words_mary gorski. photo_benedetto rebecca.
Follow our Social Media: