The aim of renovating Virginia Tech's Dietrick Hall, and the adjacent Quillen Spirit Plaza, is to make the hub of residential activity on the Blacksburg campus an even more connected, inclusive and convivial community space when both projects open to students in the spring of 2023.
Brandon Hendricks, associate director of dining services, said that with Dietrick Hall, "We want to provide a complete residential experience. That means giving people places to come together. So, with this project, we will invite you to come in, have fun with your community, and treat Dietrick's first floor as your living room. Study, hang out, meet with your campus groups. It will be very much one cohesive and welcoming space."
Students can expect striking improvements at the new Dietrick Hall (also known as D2) when the upgrades are complete, according to a Virginia Tech news release dated Oct. 3.
While D2's eight all-you-care-to-eat shops upstairs have remained open during the construction, the sole entrance to the facility is currently on the southeast side of the building.
Dietrick Hall to Expand Food, Café Shop Space
Xpress Lane, one of the university's newest venues after opening in 2019, is an urban market-styled shop featuring grab-and-go selections. Students can shop for non-perishable supplies, ready-to-eat snacks and meals, and other sundries.
The popular stop is still open with regular hours and will remain on the east side of Dietrick Hall for now. But the shop will change the most with Dietrick's renovation, shifting to the middle of the building and quadrupling in size.
In D2, plans call for Xpress Lane's dimensions to expand into the former bookstore retail and storage space, affording an expanded product selection and becoming a special venue with a fresh and evolving menu. The new, self-contained shop also will take the form of a chef's table, with seasonal menus that respond to student tastes. The concept emerges from the tradition of chefs serving family and friends in a quiet area of the kitchen as they work.
"Our chef's table menu will start with a barbeque concept, with everything halal," said Hendricks. "We'll gauge student's interest in the menu throughout the year and shift the concept based on their preferences."
Another food service, DXpress, also operates from Dietrick Hall and will allow students to pick up sustenance in the late evening to early morning hours at the main D2 entrance on the southeast corner of the building.
DXpress will serve food prepared in D2 while its kitchen is being improved, according to Virginia Tech, with all orders delivered through Grubhub. When DXpress fully reopens, guests can enjoy easier movement through the space and refreshed dining areas.
Deet's Place, serving light café fare and house-roasted coffees, has recently opened in Dietrick Hall with more relaxed space for browsing menus and extra seating for smaller groups. In D2, the lounge area will be more modern, friendly and better suited to conferencing and presentations, with more accessible seating, crisp ergonomic finishes, and convenient power strips for mobile devices.
Because the renovations at Dietrick Hall are dynamic, students and guests are encouraged to follow Dining Services social channels @hokiedining, and to look for signage around the building to get updates to access and hours.
New Outdoor Plaza Designed for Special Events
To complement Dietrick Hall's expansion as a center for student collaboration, Quillen Spirit Plaza also is being built to provide Virginia Tech with a more accessible, welcoming and interactive landscape.
The plaza will be in the area outside Dietrick Hall that faces Washington Street. It will transform and modernize a central campus gathering place that connects residential spaces to the university's athletics programs via Dietrick Lawn, Virginia Tech said. The plaza will be a location for special events, including potential pep rallies, and will continue to be an integral part of everyday living, learning and socializing on campus.
Now graded with a gentler slope and better sightlines to nearby Cassell Coliseum, the Quillen Spirit Plaza will contribute, when finished next spring, to the development of the campus master plan's Infinite Loop, an outer ring to the university's Drillfield. The Infinite Loop will utilize universal design principles to create an accessible pedestrian and sustainable transportation pathway surrounding the Blacksburg campus' core.
In addition, the plaza is envisioned as an iconic space on campus, complete with aesthetic and usability enhancements such as stadium seat walls, new accessible pathways, a sloped lawn, landscape beds, outdoor seating and tables, walkway engravings recalling moments in Virginia Tech history and the Nest — home to a special HokieBird statue, honoring the university's avian mascot.
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