are of five types, identified by the last digit of their room number. Each type of room has its own quirks and personality but every room has, for each occupant, one network connection, and an MIT standard desk, chair, bookcase, dresser and bed. In addition, rooms are generally personalized by their residents to some degree, the redecoration ranging from posters on the wall to complete paint jobs and replacement furniture, often built by the students.
Aside from the physical facilities of our building, Random has some unique features due to its location as well. We are located northwest of main campus, on the edge of Central Square. A great benefit of this is that we are very close to a large number of restaurants, which are, in many cases, cheaper and better quality than the on-campus dining options. Added to this is the fact that we have plenty of kitchen space and a supermarket just around the corner, so many of our residents don't eat on campus at all. We are also quite close to the Central Square T stop, making us the closest dorm to a T stop of all of the dorms west of Mass. Ave.
The idea of living "off campus" often raises a couple of questions: "Isn't it a long way to walk to campus?" and "Do you feel safe being off campus?". To answer the first question, we are only a five minute walk from Lobby Seven, which is exactly the same distance as Burton Connor, one of the closer of the West Campus dorms. As far as safety is concerned, we have had no problems. The walk from campus to Random is entirely along Mass Ave, a busy, populated street, which can make it a lot safer than walks along smaller roads, such as Memorial Drive and Amherst Alley, routes to the West Campus dorms, after dark.
Our main lounge, located on Foo Floor, is the venue for most of the large gatherings that take place, including parties, dorm government meetings, and group homework sessions, to name a few. The main lounge also contains a kitchen (behind a bar known, of course, as the Foo bar), a TV, and our homebuilt 24-inch subwoofer.
Random has a small but well stocked shop in the basement, equipped with a table saw, drill press, and scroll saw, along with a set of pneumatic tools and an air compressor, plus a fairly complete selection of hand tools, powered and otherwise, good for just about any fairly small project.
The basement contains a kitchen that is rarely used, and thus functions as a quiet study room for Randomites. It's also equipped with a computer perfect for productivity tasks.
Random has three pianos on Destiny, Loop, and Pecker. There's also a (not soundproof) music room that has multiple microphones and guitars.
The Alice in Wonderland lounge (so named due to its undulating purple and black floor and low ceiling) contains a pool table. The Alice in Wonderland lounge is also the location of our dorm's theater, which has a projector, DVD and VHS players and a Bose sound system.
Random's weight room is set up with all kinds of fitness equipment: free weights, a weight machine, a treadmill, a mini trampoline, and an exercise bike.