The Department of Residence and the Government of the Student Body are discussing plans to better utilize the space known as Friley Windows.

Pete Englin, director of the Department of Residence, and Nancy Levandowski, director of ISU Dining, have been discussing putting the Friley Windows area to use, along with Halley Stille, GSB director of student affairs and senior in French, and Luke Roling, chairman of the University Affairs Committee and senior in chemical engineering.

Englin and Levandowski would like to see the area used to consolidate the administrative offices for the Department of Residence and ISU Dining.

There would be enough room for a conference space that would be open to all students on campus as well.

Englin said new students and their families have a hard time finding a place to learn more about ISU Dining or the residence halls because their offices are in tucked away locations. Letting the two departments use the space would eliminate this problem.

He said the Windows area has been used in the past as a place to store furniture during the summer months when the residence room are under construction.

Englin said trailers could be used to store the furniture in the future. Even if they are a little more expensive, there is only one more summer of construction left.

Englin said he believes that, besides the furniture storage, the room hasn’t been used much since the Union Drive Market Place was built.

Jessica Bruning, GSB inter-residence hall senator and sophomore in political science, said she did not see a problem with putting offices in the space, but doesn’t really understand where the money to fund the project would come from.

Roling said GSB has not yet analyzed how much the project would cost, although he speculated the cost of the renovations would be determined by square feet. Final plans on how much space would be renovated have not been made.

Bruning said she thinks the Windows area would be a good space for hall socials, like a Halloween open house.

“This idea was brought to the university affairs committee as a potentially great space for students,” Roling said. “We usually have a hard time finding space for students to meet.”

The space will be open for all students to use, which is a big part of why the GSB may choose to fund this project, Roling said.

This project is not necessarily going to be 100 percent GSB-funded, he said.

In order to do such significant renovations in the space, the project would have to be approved by the Board of Regents, Englin said.

Prior to that process, Englin said, he would like to discuss what student leaders thought of the plan, but they have not yet reached that stage in the development of the space.

“We clearly understand the lack of space on campus and want to make sure this is a reasonable way to use this area,” Englin said.