New Residence Hall to be shaped like Father Wild
The new residence hall on Marquette’s campus will be built in the shape of former university president, Rev. Robert A. Wild S.J. Current Marquette president Michael Lovell announced the move, which received enthusiastic applause, in his third annual address to the university last Wednesday.
“We are proud to continue construction of a world-class residence hall for future generations of students,” Lovell said. “And to bestow upon it Father Wild’s human form is both fitting and a touching testament to his legacy at Marquette.”
Marquette formally announced the new residence hall last May after months of speculation and held its groundbreaking ceremony in November. Initial renderings of the complex called for two separate dormitories laid out in a sort of semi-circle shape, but the word is that these plans have been scrapped. Instead of two buildings, there will be one twenty-plus story high building that will look like Father Wild.
“Given everything that this man has contributed to our university, we thought that merely naming the building after him would be kind of lame,” Lovell said. “We were going to do a statue instead when it occurred to us that people can’t actually live inside a statue. So we took the best of both ideas and combined them.”
Design Collective is the firm in charge of layout and is therefore responsible for bringing Lovell’s vision to life. Company spokeswoman Sherry Linsen said that the firm met with Wild, Marquette’s 22nd president, last summer to go over the dimensions of the building, as well as how he would like it to be painted. Wild was insistent that most of the residence hall’s front be painted gold in the shape of his iconic vest, which he always wore under his black robes.
“That was really the one thing I was concerned about; whether or not they were going to properly capture that vest in this building. I’m glad to hear that they are,” Wild told the Seagull after the address.
Even though the WildScraper™ will not be open until fall semester of 2018, high school juniors are already trying to reserve spots in the new dorm. Waterloo junior Ben LeBlanc says that he already wants to live with his friends in the hair section.
“Do you understand how cool the view is going to be up from there? It’s going to be so much better than the one those losers in the ribcage get.”
The new dorm building will be open for its first public tour in June of 2018 and the first students will be moving in that August. In keeping with the Marquette tradition, elevators will not be fully operational until at least October.
