A new Web site is taking the guesswork out of dorm room design for many of Penn’s incoming freshman.The University has partnered with CollegeRoomCreator.com, a Web site
that allows students to view a virtual, three-dimensional model of
their future dorm room.
Penn is currently piloting the Web site with Hill College House, according to Business Services spokeswoman Barbara Lea-Kruger. Because representatives from the site must come and measure each
room, Penn is experimenting with the service before committing to
include all of the dorms.
Students can use the site to design and customize their room and to
collaborate with future roommates in planning how to customize their
space. Students using the virtual design interface can also add furniture
and dorm accessories to their virtual room and use the Web site to
purchase these items.
The interactive features make CollegeRoomCreator.com different from
Penn’s own housing Web site, which only shows 2-dimensional layouts. Lea-Kruger called the Web site “an interesting tool for students.” “We are going to monitor the program and get student feedback,” she
said. “If the feedback is good, we’ll definitely consider expanding to
other college houses.” Lea-Kruger also added that it will not be fully functional until some time next week.
Once it is fully launched, Hill residents will be able to access
their room on CollegeRoom-Creator.com via a link on Campus Express.The decision to partner with this Web site is a fairly recent one, according to Lea-Kruger. “We’ve been chatting with CollegeRoomCreator.com for several
months,” she said. “One of the Web site’s creators is the child of a
Penn alum and was very interested in partnering with Penn.”
The Web site is free for both the universities and its students.
Service helps preview dorm rooms
By Randiah Green
Courtesy of CollegeRoomCreator.com
CollegeRoomCreator.com allows students to preview how their furniture would fit in a dorm room. Students can now create their dorm room before they move in through a Web site called CollegeRoomCreator.com. The site allows students to view an online model of their dorm room
and design and construct the room by placing virtual models of their
furniture and other belongings in the space.
Bryce Widelitz, the managing partner and co-creator of the Web site, said its goal is to make move-in day for students easier. “Students going to college from being seniors in high school
typically have no idea exactly what their room is going to look like
and what they can and can’t fit in it before they actually go to move
in,” Widelitz said. “This way they can go and see the dimensions, and
they can click and drag objects to see what will fit in the room and
how they are going to set it up.”
Widelitz said the Web site partners with universities in order to get the dimensions of dorm rooms in every residence hall.
UT is not partnered with CollegeRoomCreator.com, but Widelitz said
students from universities not partnered with the Web site can use its
services as well. “The only thing that is different from partnering and non-partnering
universities is that we don’t have the exact dimensions of the rooms
because we don’t measure it ourselves,” he said. “We can get them from
the universities’ Web site if they have that information posted, but it
usually is outdated and isn’t exact.”
Widelitz said the benefit of having a university partner with the
Web site is having that university provide a direct link to
CollegeRoomCreator.com. “All the partnering universities have a link to us on their resident
life home page. When a student goes to their resident life page, there
will be a link that directs them to design their room.” he said.
Jo Campbell, director of residence life, said UT has a similar
service that was introduced in the fall semester, but it does not allow
the student to actually design the room. “We have a new service on the Reslife Web site that gives students a
virtual 360 of the room and gives them a model of the room with all the
furniture that is already in it,” she said. “It also gives them the
dimensions of the room.”
CollegeRoomCreator.com is a free service, and Widelitz said it can
help lower the amount of calls resident life staff receives from
students asking questions about the room. “They probably get the stupidest questions about dorm rooms, like
where is my window going to be or questions about the actual size of
the room, and most universities can’t even give them that information
right then and there,” he said. “With our service, a student can just
go to a Web site and find that information out for themselves.”
Widelitz said the Web site is mainly for incoming freshmen, but it could be valuable to any student who wants to plan ahead. The University of Pennsylvania is partnered with
CollegeRoomCreator.com, and Widelitz said they are working to finalize
partnerships with Arizona State and the University of Arizona.
Campbell said though UT’s service gives students a virtual tour of their room, CollegeRoomCreator.com could still be helpful. “That would probably be helpful because it lets students know what
can and can’t fit in their room. It lets them know that a U-Haul truck
full of stuff is probably too much,” she said.
" "Photo: Courtesy of CollegeRoomCreator.com")
