At the Rose cafe this past Wednesday, a Cornell alumni architect, Noah, described the projects his firm has started and those they have completed. His firm, Stream, designs primarily living spaces, many of which have and will be occupied by Cornell students. Noah gave a very optimistic look at the future of housing in Collegetown meant to be completed within the next decade. While today Collegetown is mostly single or multi-family houses, many Collegetown land owners are starting to develop their property into larger apartment buildings. Noah explained how Stream’s goal is to stay within the original footprint of the existing house marked for development, but expand it into a multi-unit apartment building. This will increase the amount of College Ave housing without increasing the amount of land area developed. Noah then described a future College Ave full of shining, modern apartment buildings replacing the existing weathered houses. Noah’s vision also included buried power lines and 100% electric-powered buildings that will eventually be connected to a solar farm. Considering the current state of Collegetown housing, I am skeptical of Noah’s vision of a utopia living center for Cornell’s upperclassmen, but this change would certainly be welcome.