• Designed to connect with the beautiful, existing architecture at Trent University – aesthetic honours the historic Ron Thom architecture of the Symons Campus, while offering a new space for students to learn and thrive on campus
• The use of glass throughout the building and its open-concept floorplan creates a connected feeling on the inside while providing stunning views of the Otonabee River
• The Student Centre offers a wide variety of formal and informal study spaces:
  • First floor resembles a student café, with a collection round tables and chairs and lounge furniture
  • Second floor has barstool study spaces that overlook the atrium of the building
    • Chairs and tables along a glass wall overlooking the Otonabee
    • A dedicated space for silent studying
  • Third floor offers more group study space
• State-of-the-art lecture rooms, adding 360 new seats to Trent University, including:
  • Stohn Hall: A two-storey, 200-seat lecture theatre – named in honour of alumnus Stephen Stohn
  • A 60-seat Active Learning Classroom, equipped with projectors, whiteboards and moveable seating
  • Another 100-seat, tiered lecture hall
• From the main floor, there is a unique, oversized staircase feature that has electrical plugs found it, making it a central location for students to connect
• Students also have a variety of outdoor spaces to use surrounding the centre:
  • Patio located on the outside of the main floor of the building, connecting to Founder’s Walk
  • Second floor balcony that overlooks the river
• New multi-purpose event space with moveable furniture and access to an outdoor patio space
• New home for the Trent Central Student Association (TCSA)
  • The TCSA operates a welcome desk that is the go-to location for students to ask questions, access a wide variety of services offered by the TCSA, purchase merchandise and get transit information
  • The TCSA also offers spaces for student clubs to use for meetings and social events throughout the school year, with 50 storage lockers that clubs can use
• Starbucks
• New location for Careerspace and the Trent Community-based Research Centre, which connect students with applied learning opportunities, such as co-op placements and internships, as well as career services, such as resume and cover letter workshops and interview prep

The Student Centre project was part of Trent University’s $50-Million Campaign - Unleash the Potential, the University’s most ambitious philanthropic campaign to date. The Student Centre project was a Trent family effort, with students providing $10.5 million through a special levy towards the $16 million project, and an outpouring of support from the Trent community, including the board, faculty, staff, and alumni. 

Funding for the $16 million project was a Trent family effort.

• $10.5 million provided by students through a special levy
• $4 million fundraising campaign:
  • The Trent community including, the board, faculty, staff, and alumni, have donated over $3.75 million towards the $4 million fundraising goal.
    • This includes a transformational $1 million gift from alumnus Stephen Stohn ’66 last fall
  • $1.5 million through the Alumni Student Centre Challenge
  • Five $100,000 donations from alumni - Gavin Marshall ’76, Greg Piasetzki ’72, Ken Hartwick ’81, Martha Wilder ’74, and Don Tapscott ’66 and Ana P. Lopes
  • $300,000 gift from international alumnus and Trent supporter, Justin Chiu ’76
• $1.5 million in University funding

Consultation Report

» Consultation Report, February 12, 2015

It was important that the views and priorities of the stakeholder community inform the planning and design of the Student Centre. The TCSA and the University hosted a series of opportunities for students, staff, faculty and alumni to ask questions about the project and provide input on key attributes of the new facility in January 2015:

• Seven focus groups sessions were hosted by Trent University and the TCSA provided a forum for questions and answers about the project, and to gather stakeholder views on key attributes of the new Student Centre.  Sessions were held for students including each College, club and levy groups, the student community at large, and alumni, faculty and staff.
• There was an online survey for all members of the Trent community probing views, preferences and priorities for the Student Centre.
• Mobile information booths were set up in a range of high traffic areas on campus to provide information on the Student Centre and gather views and input from students and other stakeholders
• Six user group sessions were hosted with stakeholders responsible for particular functions in the Student Centre to gather information on specific requirements

The consultations were facilitated by Educational Consulting Services Corp. led by Principal Brian Barron.

Teeple Architects Inc. was selected from amongst 23 firms following a competitive process, as the architectural firm that will bring the vision of this important new building on Trent’s Symons Campus in Peterborough to life.

“We were overwhelmed by the number and quality of the proposals we received. There is clearly strong interest in Trent and this particular project, especially with its location next to Trent’s iconic Bata Library,” said Julie Davis, vice president of External Relations and Advancement, who chaired the selection committee. “Teeple demonstrated a strong understanding of the importance of getting the architecture of the Student Centre right. With its central location on campus, this building needs to impress from every direction, while at the same time blend into and showcase the natural environment and other unique and award-winning architecture around it.”

Founded in 1989, Teeple Architects Inc. has built a reputation for innovative design, technical excellence and exceptional service through a broad range of institutional projects, including more than 24 projects for Canadian post-secondary institutions. Of these projects – which have included multiple Student Centres – the firm has demonstrated a commitment to crafting design solutions in which the architectural concept is intimately linked to its specific context, day-to-day use and inhabitation. In recent years, Teeple Architects has become renowned for its innovative and efficient approaches to sustainability as well as to construction in existing campus settings. The work of the firm has been recognized with major awards on the national and international levels – including a prestigious International Holcim Award for Sustainable Design and 6 Governor General’s Medals for Architecture, two of which were awarded for Teeple’s previous work at Trent University: the Trent Childcare Centre (1993) and the Chemical Sciences Building (2004).

“The Student Centre is a key building for the future of Trent – an opportunity of immense significance that must not be missed. We are incredibly excited to be working with the University to create a place that students can call home – a space that is deeply rooted in its natural and built environment yet looks to the future, addressing new ways to think about how students interact and learn.”

- Stephen Teeple, Design Principal