Taking an elevator to the ninth floor of New Hall is not as easy as it would seem for a relatively new building with three working elevators. That’s because only two of them make stops on the top floor.
“I didn’t even realize there was a ninth floor for a quite a long time,” eighth-floor resident Alex Hoff said.
Out of the three elevators, only the middle and left elevators will take riders up to the ninth floor. The right elevator can only go up to the eighth floor thanks to D.C. zoning regulations, said Art Bean, the director for project management facilities.
In New Hall, one elevator was constructed very close to the edge of the building and the required headroom above the elevator didn’t meet the D.C. standards.
Hence the mystery of the eighth-floor-only elevator.
Still, New Hall dwellers, like ninth – floor resident Elliot Waldman, have found the unusual elevator situation to be an inconvenience.
Waldman said that the confusion caused him to get off on the eighth floor and attempt to open the wrong door, only to find out minutes later that he was actually a floor below his dorm room.
Meredith Owen, a senior and ninth-floor resident, said that she thinks the situation is frustrating.
“It sucks. It’s really inconvenient because over the summer, people were moving in and the only elevator that was working was the one that doesn’t go to the ninth floor,” Owen said. “My roommate had to lug this futon up a flight of stairs, which was really small and hard. I think it’s not fair, you know. It shouldn’t be like that.”
Although the general consensus is that the elevators are a bit problematic, many students say they have become accustomed to the elevator as the year has progressed.
Ninth-floor resident Stacey Wujcik said she considers the mix-up a great social opportunity because it can spark elevator conversations with people you don’t know.
Though Wujcik was positive about the extra planning it takes to get to her floor, she knows that she’s probably one of few.
She said, “Mostly people on the floor really hate it.”
