Dormitory

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Template:Short description Template:For-multi Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Hatnote list' not found.

File:Sharp Hall Dorm Room.jpg
An American college dormitory room in 2002

A dormitory (originated from the Latin word dormitorium,[1] often abbreviated to dorm,[2]) is a room that sleeps multiple people.[3][4] It may also refer (in the United States) to a building primarily providing sleeping and residential quarters for large numbers of people such as student accommodation for university or college students,[3][4] or, with reference to military personnel, a barracks.

A building providing sleeping and residential quarters for large numbers of people may also be called a house (members of a religious community or pupils at a boarding school),[5] or a hostel (students, workers or travelers).

Types of dormitory

File:2014 Prowincja Armawir, Wagharszapat, Akademik seminarium duchownego.jpg
A seminary dormitory in Vagharshapat, Armavir Province, Armenia

Barracks

Script error: No such module "Labelled list hatnote". Template:Excerpt

Boarding school dormitories

File:TASdorm1898.jpg
Dormitory at The Armidale School, New South Wales, 1898
File:Sungai-Sungai Sabah SK-Sungai-Sungai-04.jpg
High school dormitory in Sabah, Malaysia

Boarding schools generally have dormitories (in the sense of a shared room for multiple people) for at least junior or younger children around age 4 to 9 years of age. In classic British boarding schools these typically have bunk beds that have traditionally come to be associated with boarding schools. The Department for Children, Schools and Families, in conjunction with the Department of Health of the United Kingdom, has prescribed guidelines for dormitories in boarding schools. These regulations come under what is called as the National Boarding Standards.[6]

The National Boarding Standards in the UK have prescribed a minimum floor area or living space required for each student and other aspects of basic facilities. The minimum floor area of a dormitory accommodating two or more students is defined as the number of students sleeping in the dormitory multiplied by 4.2 m2, plus 1.2 m2. A minimum distance of 0.9 m should also be maintained between any two beds in a dormitory, bedroom or cubicle. If students have individual sleeping cubicles, each student must be provided with a window and a minimum floor area of 5.0 m2. A bedroom for a single student should have a floor area of at least 6.0 m2 and have a window. Sleeping accommodation should be separated by age group and gender. Dormitories should also provide a shower or bath for each ten students and a toilet or urinal for each five students.[6]

Cold-air dormitories

Cold-air dormitories (CADs) are found in multi-level rooming houses such as fraternities, sororities, and cooperative houses. In CADs and in hostels, the room typically has very few furnishings except for beds. Such rooms can contain anywhere from three to 50 beds (though such very large dormitories are rare except perhaps as military barracks). Such rooms provide little or no privacy for the residents, and very limited storage for personal items in or near the beds. Cold-air dorms get their names from the common practice of keeping the windows open year-round, even in winter. The practice emerged based on the theory that circulation and cold air minimizes the spread of disease. Some communal bedrooms keep the name cold-air dorms or cold dorms despite having modern heating or cooling.[7][8]

Dormitory ship

Script error: No such module "Labelled list hatnote". Template:Excerpt

Prison dormitories

Housing units in prisons that house multiple inmates in a single large room are referred to as "dormitories". This style of housing is generally used in the US at low security federal prisons. These rooms normally house 50 to 100 prisoners in bunk beds.[9]

Student accommodation

Script error: No such module "Labelled list hatnote". Template:Excerpt

See also

Lua error in mw.title.lua at line 404: bad argument #2 to 'title.new' (unrecognized namespace name 'Portal').

Notes

Page Template:Reflist/styles.css has no content.

References

Page Template:Reflist/styles.css has no content.

  1. ^ "Dormitory, n. and adj., originally a sleeping chamber, especially a room containing many beds where monks, teachers and students sleep (1485), in American usage a residence hall at a university or college (1865). From the Latin dormitorium." @wordorigins.org Script error: No such module "webarchive"., Retrieved 26 September 2014
  2. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Dorm". Collins Dictionary. Retrieved 20 December 2023.
  3. ^ a b Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."dormitory - definition of dormitory in English | Oxford Dictionaries". Oxford Dictionaries | English. Archived from the original on September 25, 2016. Retrieved 2017-04-26.
  4. ^ a b Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Dormitory". Retrieved 29 August 2025. 1: a room for sleeping
    especially: a large room containing numerous beds
    2: a residence hall providing rooms for individuals or for groups usually without private baths
  5. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."house - definition of house in English | Oxford Dictionaries (definition 3)". Oxford Dictionaries | English. Archived from the original on April 27, 2017. Retrieved 2017-04-26.
  6. ^ a b Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."National Boarding School Standards in UK" (PDF). UK: Department of Health. 2002. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-01-27.
  7. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Leslie, Bill (December 15, 2009). "Cold Dorms". WRAL.
  8. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Greek Housing". Iowa State University. Retrieved 6 September 2014.
  9. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Christopher Zoukis (20 May 2013). "Inmate Housing in the Federal Bureau of Prisons". Zoukis Consulting Group. Retrieved 29 August 2025.

Page Module:Side box/styles.css has no content.Page Template:Sister project/styles.css has no content.

Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Navbox/configuration' not found. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Authority control/config' not found.