Trinity Grammar School’s new library is an innovative learning centre
In 2013, Trinity Grammar School opened the Richard and Elizabeth Tudor Centre for Contemporary Learning. The building is the culmination of some seven years of planning and consultation between architects and the Trinity Community. The result of this vision is a centre which provides the most stimulating and innovative features of a 21st-century learning environment and yet retains the best features of a traditional library.
The Centre is being used exceptionally well by the boys and has made a difference to the culture of learning within the school. There are a number of specific areas designed for individual and collaborative learning including small group learning pods, boardrooms for student meetings and group discussion, larger teaching areas and lecture rooms for class groups, silent study areas, comfortable reading areas, and large display spaces for installations. All areas have full ICT facilities and support.
The building is utilised by up to 300 boys at lunchtimes and is open for senior boys to study on some evenings each week. The Ian Armstrong Collection, a private collection of significant historical artefacts, is on continuous rotational display within the building. The Centre for Contemporary Learning was built with the most up-to-date principles of sustainable design and is cooled and heated with minimal impact on the environment. Even the roof of the Centre has been used to advantage with an experimental roof garden being developed and studied by senior students. This garden was designed in conjunction with Melbourne University — Burnley horticultural PhD students.
Sir Winston Churchill once articulated: ‘We shape buildings and buildings shape us’. This magnificent innovative facility is helping Trinity Grammar School shape the future of our boys by meeting the varied and complex learning needs of boys in a changing world. The building underscores the importance of industry, enquiry and application in the pursuit of dynamic and stimulating learning. It stands for the future of education at Trinity Grammar School.