two stacks of four donuts each

Random is divided into eight "floors"

Each taking up half of a physical floor of the dorm. Think two stacks of four donuts each — that'll give you the right mental picture. Each floor houses between 3 and 14 residents, has a complete kitchen with stove, microwave, dishwasher, and up to four refrigerators, and also has two private bathrooms and a lounge. Seven of the floors are co-ed, and the other is non-male.
the laundry room in random hall basement

In the basement,

one can find a computer room, a workshop, a printer, a music practice room, a weight room, a game area with a punching bag and pool table, and the Alice in Wonderland Theater. Our three washers (Geela, Malseka, Maku) and four dryers (Alatelo, Krank, Akoro, Droog), which residents can all use for free, are also located there; their status can be checked online.
random hall front desk with a worker

Our front desk

sorts mail, runs soda fridge, lends movies, checks out shop keys, and provides sewing machines and/or vacuums to the hole-y and dust-ridden.
the webmaster forgot to find a picture. oopsie

Friendly Neighbors

are to be found throughout Random Hall and are good not only for hanging out but also for getting academic help and general advice. Randomites are more than happy to help with understanding problem sets, studying for tests, and just figuring out how things work. Because we have a variety of majors and interests, there's almost always someone able to help. Our expertise, however, do not start and end in the realm of academics. Randomites form a tight-knit community and are always there for one another. You can be sure to find someone to help you adjust to college life, deal with academic pressure, handle problems back at home, etc.
the webmaster forgot to find a picture

Study Breaks

are held almost every week of a term. The residents of Random gather for food and a break from studying. Each floor is responsible for organizing one study break a term (the dorm supplies the monetary funds).
the roofdeck view at night

Our roof

is open for all residents. There we have a wooden roofdeck with tables and chairs. Perfect for meteor-gazing, movie-watching, boffer-fighting, or even tooling.
a spherical photo of a 2-room

Our rooms

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.

an illustration of the layout of most floors

Types of rooms

  • One Rooms are singles in the front of the building, facing Mass Ave.
  • Two Rooms are doubles next to the one rooms, also facing out to the street.
  • Three Rooms are singles which look out onto the air and light shafts in the middle of the building.
  • Four Rooms are singles divided into two halves by arches, and also look out on the shafts.
  • Five Rooms are divided doubles with outside windows facing the back of the building. Each five room has a large half, typically occupied by an upperclassman, a small half, typically occupied by a freshman.
map showing random hall to the north of MIT campus

Location

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.

a frontview of counters at CVS

Off-Campus?

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.

picture of the main lounge

Main Lounge

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.

picture of a resident using the saw to cut a piece of wood

Workshop

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.

picture of the study room

Study Room

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.

picture of a piano on the floor Loop

Music

Random has three pianos on Destiny, Loop, and Pecker. There's also a (not soundproof) music room that has multiple microphones and guitars.

picture of the projector and the white screen

Alice in Wonderland Lounge/Theater

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.

picture of the weight room

Weight Room

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.

Questions?

Feel free to e-mail us — we love meeting prefrosh and are always looking to add to our community. :)