It has been just over a year since Pierce Tower started making the transition to Campus North Residence Hall and Dining Commons, set to open in 2016. Pierce had its own quirks, traditions, and lifestyles specific not only to its four houses but also to the building itself. Tufts House and Henderson House residents were moved to the New Graduate Residence Hall, while Thompson and Shorey Houses were moved to International House. I interviewed rising third-years Robin Ye and Michael Procassini, both members of the last Pierce generation, to find out what it was like to move from one campus dorm to another ... and what was lost in transition. Ye and Procassini agree that Pierce’s unique floor plan helped foster its culture. In Pierce, each house was comprised of two floors, both of which had student rooms, a communal bathroom, and an entrance to a central lounge. “Because the rooms were so small, not a lot of people would hang there, or if people were in their rooms, they would have their doors propped open,” says Ye. “There were always people sitting out in the hallway, or having conversations in the bathroom. Anywhere you went, you would have to socialize.” The communal bathrooms in particular, including the “geyser toilets” of 2012, were a major center of house culture. “Our daily interactions in the public bathrooms were actually really fun,” Procassini explains. “People knew who brushed their teeth at the same time as them, and people would always be talking while they were brushing their teeth.” Procassini’s love of the Pierce bathrooms extended beyond the everyday experience to a tradition specific to Henderson House: the birthday shower. “On people’s birthday at midnight, they hid somewhere in the house, and we went to find them, and dragged them into the shower.” They would get drenched while the house cheered them on by singing “Happy Birthday.” Perhaps the most integral part of Pierce life was the central lounge, which was near the exits to the buildings. “The lounge was an essential area, a part of how Pierce was designed. It was actually hard to avoid going through the lounge,” Procassini says, “You could always go in and say, ‘Now I’m doing a puzzle!’ or ‘Now I’m having a random debate about Pop Tarts!” but whatever it is, there would be something going on in the lounge. Even at four in the morning.” This year, there will be almost no students left in Tufts, Henderson, Thompson, and Shorey Houses who lived in Pierce. The RAs will be different, even most of the resident heads will have changed. Pierce culture has adapted to its new spaces (and Henderson kept the birthday shower tradition). In 2016 we will see the emerging personality of Campus North, with three-story lounges, outdoor courtyards, a fifteenth floor reading room, and (hopefully) functional plumbing.