While the newest residence hall on campus, Great Basin Hall, is still under construction through this summer, the University of Nevada, Reno, is already holding tours throughout the first two weeks of April for prospective students.

“Students have been able to view the rooms in all the other residence halls,” said Wyatt Wagner, the Housing Operations Coordinator and tour guide for Great Basin. “And so I’m glad we did these tours because we gave them that opportunity to see all the room configurations since we weren’t able to do that earlier this year.”

The tours went on for four days in early April. Students were able to see all the different types of rooms and the multiple study lounges.

“It’s to get students excited about living on campus,” said Jerome Maese, the Director for Residential Life. “And to show them where their new home is going to be and to help promote that special kind of living environment for everyone who is looking to live there.”

The residence hall will be available for all undergraduate students pursuing a degree in STEM fields, or science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Great Basin has been built with specific amenities for students in STEM classes such as work rooms, study lounges, academic mentors and a 24-hour computer lab. The building also includes plans for an extension of the Nevada Wolf Shop on the first floor. Students will be able to return textbooks, buy snacks and purchase university merchandise.

“I like that there is multiple study lounges on each floor,” said Kestra Higby, a biology major at UNR who went on the tour. “A lot of the other halls only have one or two, and Great Basin will have like four or five. So there will be more options, especially during finals week when everywhere is packed.”

Great Basin Hall has the greatest variety of rooms, with seven different sizes on each floor. The rooms and suites can host student accommodations anywhere from single bedrooms to rooms up to five people. Depending on the different styles, this can affect the size of the living space, food prep area and bathrooms.

“I don’t know if I like the different styles,” said Jillian Luthy, a biology major at UNR who also went on the tour. “Certain rooms have kitchen sinks, and certain rooms don’t, and it can make picking the rooms very confusing.”

Maese says that the completion of the hall will reopen the footbridge over N. Virginia Street and will serve as a “corridor” into the heart of campus. For the first time since White Pine Hall was demolished in 2016, students will be able to walk to classes without having to wait at a street light.

Great Basin Hall is projected to finish construction in July and will be ready for students before the fall semester.

Austin Daly can be reached at karolinar@sagebrush.unr.edu and on Twitter @NevadaSagebrush.