Trinity College Admissions Building

The Trinity College Admissions Building is a three-story building built into the natural hill of Trinity’s campus. From first approach, the majority of the building is hidden underground making the building seem smaller than it truly is. This helps to create a softer edge for the quad that the building is one side of. Surrounding the building are limestone columns holding up timber trellises which help to close in the space making it feel more intimate. The building sits in the shadow of the chapel, and the colonnade is intended to be reminiscent of the chapel’s buttresses. The opposite side of the Admissions Building is intended to reflect the height of the chapel’s tower with the building rising out of the side of the ground.

The Admissions Building was created as part of the Trinity College 1997 Master Plan and in addition to housing admissions, the building is also home to the department of financial aid and the career development center. The building is intended to create a feeling of warmth and welcome with a large fireplace extending through the building as well as the brown stone that it is built with. This brownstone is also intended to link the building with the brownstone used throughout the rest of campus. The large windows allow not only for lots of natural light, but for views onto the rest of campus. These windows as well as the timber and stone material used throughout the building are characteristic of Bohli’s other works, and the steel and glass combination resembles the style that has appeared in some of Bohli’s later works. For designing the Admissions Building, Bohlin was awarded a 2001 Honor Award for excellence in architectural design by the American Institute of Architects, and a 2004 Tucker Design Award by the Building Stone Institute.