- Comments on "The
Summit"
"I am
impressed by the appropriateness of the name of this spectacular new residence complex
that surrounds us here today: The Summit. This facility, like the street beyond, is named
Summit for a reason. The Summit Tower and the Summit Suites mark a real high point in our
lives here at Trinity in many ways. First, we are standing, quite literally, on a ridge
that marks the high point of our city, a city that has always been so important to who we
are at Trinity, and to who we hope to become. From this point where I stand today, I can
look out and see the sun reflecting off the golden capitol dome to the north and east; and
to the south, I can view the great beauty of the Connecticut River Valley. Today we can
truly say that Trinity is on top."Finally, as magnificent an architectural achievement as these structures we celebrate here today are, they are more than just beautiful buildings. They are home to 172 of our students --and not just any homes. They are splendid homes, yes; but they are homes with a purpose--Rooms with a Viewpoint, as a recent Hartford Courant article put it. The Tower houses the exciting new program from our Strategic Plan, the intensive and innovative Tutorial College for selected sophomore students to develop their intellectual talents in an independent environment. And the Suites across the court form the homes for the Cities Program and for some 22 theme suites--from electoral politics, to emergency medicine, to women in business, to Irish culture--all involving faculty and students and administrators working together throughout the year to create a vibrant social and intellectual life for our campus. There are seminar rooms here, music practice rooms, faculty offices, beautiful lounges and common spaces for gathering, dining, and just hanging out. With all this, The Summit represents another kind of achievement for Trinity, another summit ascended. It marks Trinity"s leadership in residential liberal arts education by integrating a new standard of residential life with the highest achievement of intellectual life."
Evan S. Dobelle
President"
When Evan Dobelle arrived and a series of new buildings was contemplated, a Design Review Committee was formed --the first in the College"s history--which would ensure that the buildings were of the highest design quality and would form an overall logic. They would be part of a campus plan that respected the past but looked to the future. "Rawn's dorm fulfills that charge admirably. Its dramatic massing of two structures responds to Cesar Pelli"s adjacent MCEC building and to William Burges"s masterful Victorian Gothic range down Summit Street. It inherits the great Trinity tradition of the "too-long" building; Long Walk, the Pelli Building, now this-- buildings whose length is about contributing to a whole much larger than they are. The dormitory tower, with its spectacular pyramidal roof, recalls the old medieval warehouses of northern Europe, which Burges studied for inspiration. It is a beacon that sets up a dialogue with other towers on campus, that of the campus Chapel and the fly tower of Austin Arts Center. The dormitory complex and its gracious courtyard strategically close the corner of the Life Sciences quadrangle and provide a vantage point for the south campus."
Kathleen A. Curran
Associate Professor of Fine Arts "Here at Trinity, the Office of Residential Life has a mission, shared by the rest of the community, which is to cultivate an environment that contributes to each student's intellectual and emotional growth, his or her development of a personal responsibility, and his or her active involvement in community living. The College is attempting to create a comfortable atmosphere where students can recognize and appreciate their differences and common interests.... From the students' perspective, this is the ideal residential community. "
Jeffrey K. Coleman '01"The Summit residences constitute the first buildings constructed under the Master Plan guidelines initiated by President Evan Dobelle. The Master Plan (Cooper Robertson) and its Design Guidelines (William Rawn Associates) recognized that an increase of density and a fitting in of large buildings within the existing campus texture was the most important and most creative next step in the evolution of the campus. This strategy begins to fill in the missing teeth in the campus and strengthens the series of four quadrangles that move from south to north. This was the cornerstone of the Dobelle-Cooper-Rawn strategy. Creating 173 beds in four- and six-story buildings on the top of a plinth or plateau is a powerful example of fitting moderately large buildings into a tight site. The tightening and indeed the rigorous organization of the Trinity campus are a centerpiece of this strategy. As the first new building of the Dobelle presidency, this building sets a standard of materials and organization being followed by the next three buildings currently under design. "
William L. Rawn III, FAIA - "In its bold design and innovative programming, The Summit eloquently
expresses how the Trinity Campus Master Plan is more than just a series of new buildings
to add to the best of our historic architecture. It is a comprehensive plan that will
enable the campus to enact our academic mission in a new way. Even as our implementation
of the Master Plan seeks to preserve what is most beautiful and lasting about our great
buildings and green space, we also have ambitions to contribute new elements to our campus
fabric, to essentially turn our campus inside out through new construction, design, and
way-finding strategies. That is why one of the central principles of the plan addresses
the orientation of the campus--complementing an inward-looking orientation fashioned
around the cloistered effect of academic quadrangles with an outward-looking engagement of
our city and our world. "
Ronald R. Thomas
Vice President and
Chief of Staff