Admissions Building

The Trinity College Admissions Building is located next to the Chapel and overlooks the sports fields. The building also includes the Career Services Center on the bottom floor, where students may seek resources regarding future employment opportunities that align with their passions and skills. It also includes Financial Aid offices where students and their families may arrange need and merit based aid plans to facilitate their education at Trinity. While it may appear small due to its structure closely hugging the topography of the landscape, the Admissions Building has three floors contained within it. The top floor is a transparent pavilion of timber, steel, and glass. Along the length of the upper level, a limestone colonnade supports a timber trellis, recalling the neighboring chapel’s Gothic buttresses.

The current Admissions Building was part of the “Trinity Campus Master Plan,” commissioned by President Evan Dobelle in 1997, the goal of which was to bring about new ambitions for the College that complemented its historical architecture while supporting its modernized learning initiatives and strengthening student communities. Construction of the Admissions Building was part of the first phase of President Dobelle’s Master Plan, consisting of three waves of construction planned for 2002, 2010, and 2020. Project 2002 included several enterprises, including renovating the library, expanding Austin Arts Center, constructing a new dormitory and a studio arts facility, and dramatically revising the landscaping and pathways throughout campus.

On March 12, 1999 a meeting of the Board of Trustees heard a report from trustee Dan Raether on the plans to construct a new admissions building along the Chapel quad, which would become the location of Admissions, Financial Aid, and Career Services offices as well as conference spaces for faculty and students. The proposal to approve the construction was unanimously passed by the board during this meeting. Facilitated by an anonymous donation of $10 million dollars, construction began in Summer 1999, and was proposed to be completed by Spring 2001. The official ribbon cutting ceremony took place on Friday, September 28, 2001. The building was to be designed by Philadelphia architect Peter Bohlin of the Bohlin Cywinski Jackson Architectural firm.

Upon preparations for the construction of the new building, students built a barricade around trees that had been marked for chopping down to clear the area for the building. This barricade was removed not long after it was set up. In the November 16, 1999 //Trinity Tripod// issue, a student responding to what they viewed as unjust removal of posters and this barricade criticized the College for regulating the delivery of free speech.

Officially opened in 2001, the building is 31,000 square feet and was completed with a total cost of $15 million. Peter Bohlin, the architect leading the design project, stated that, “Working closely with the College, we were able to carefully place this large and powerful building in the shadow of the great Trinity Chapel. We are pleased with the way the building sits in the landscape, forming a soft edge for the Chapel Quadrangle while meeting the College's programmatic goals.” Bohlin Cywinski Jackson was awarded the 2004 Tucker Design Award by the Building Stone Institute for their work on the Admissions Building. The Tucker Design Award honors architectural design that demonstrates excellence in the use of natural stone in building or landscape projects.