Cascadia dorm to be converted to upperclass housing, no meal plan required

Cascadia dorm's kitchen area during the afternoon of Jan. 22, 2026. Photo by Patricia Krepel.

Housing applications are currently open for the 2026-27 academic year for returning students, including a new housing option for incoming third- and fourth-years: the Cascadia Project.

Cascadia, currently a first-year dorm, will be transformed into a residential space for the 2026-27 academic year for upper-division students who wish to live in a traditional residence hall with the ability to opt out of the Bon Appétit meal plan, according to an email from the Residence Life and Housing department sent to third- and fourth-years in November.

Cascadia was specifically chosen as the residential hall to pilot this program due to its ideal ratio of student occupants to kitchen accessibility, said Aaron Hukari, director of Residence Life and Housing. As part of the transition, Cascadia’s basement kitchen will undergo remodeling. 

“[The Residential Life and Housing department] is really hoping that 18 to 22 students are really interested in preparing their own food for the upcoming year,” said Hukari. “Hopefully, [we’ll get] feedback on questions like [whether that ratio of students to a kitchen] is a sustainable number. ” 

With the addition of third- and fourth-years to this space, incoming first-years who would have historically been placed in this dorm will instead live in other first-year dorms on campus. Since Cascadia only has the capacity to house around 26 students, the Residence Life and Housing department foresees no complications in assigning incoming first-years to other dorm spaces, Hukari said

Depending on the success of the Cascadia Project, administrators may consider a similar program in a larger residential space to give more students the ability to live on campus without the enforcement of the meal plan in the future, according to Hukari. 

“For example, Kaneko would probably never be an option just because it is such a massive building with such few kitchens,” Hukari said, “whereas some of the smaller buildings might be a better option. So, Shepard, Lee and York may be a good middle space for a reasonable amount of people utilizing the kitchen at one time.”

Despite the possibility of converting other smaller residential buildings into places for students who are interested in living on campus without a meal plan, Hukari is mindful of preserving amenities for juniors and seniors who don’t want to use the kitchen space regularly. 

As part of the Cascadia Project, the kitchen, located in the basement, will undergo remodeling to ease the pressure on kitchen demand. 

“[Residence Life and Housing] are adding some additional kitchen facilities to update the space in order to make it more feasible for 20 people to feed themselves for an entire academic year,” Hukari said. “And then through that, we’re also going to add some additional dining space and food storage for students. … The renovations aren’t particularly drastic.” 

The renovations will include the insertion of an additional fridge and more shelves along the wall. In the kitchen area, the department will add large storage lockers for students to store their more pricey ingredients, utensils and appliances. The department is also altering the purpose of the small storage room adjacent to the kitchen by installing more furniture for dining as well as additional shared pantry space.

The housing application has been open since the beginning of February and closes on Sunday, Feb. 15, at 11:59 p.m.