Liberal Arts Action Lab, Trinity College
Hartford, CT
Background and Context
The Trinity College Liberal Arts Action Lab (LAAL) is a unique environment for scholarship and grassroots engagement that occupies 6,433 square feet at the Plaza and Second Levels at 10 Constitution Plaza in downtown Hartford. The project is Trinity’s first ‘remote’ expansion in its nearly 200-year history and represents a strategic expression of a forward-looking mission to engage, connect and transform. Trinity selected 10 CP to accommodate this new program, which brings together students and faculty with Hartford community partners to define and collaborate on local issues. Teams seek to strengthen the City and its role in the region, spark social innovation, and support civic engagement and sustainability through a transparent process of collaboration, research and interdisciplinary problem solving.
Design Response
The project team embraced the Liberal Arts Action Lab’s programmatic qualities and designed an environment that is bright, approachable, welcoming, interactive, transparent, dynamic, flexible, and outwardly focused. The project involved the adaptation of space that had been re-purposed multiple times (as a corporate office, a restaurant and most recently as a TV Studio). The Trinity LAAL is comprised of 6,433 square feet of flexible space that accommodates many types of formal and informal interactions, including one-on-one meetings, symposia, conferences and small group discussion.
Upon entry, visitors are immediately within the main collaboration space that includes responsive technology and a variety of flexible seating and furnishings. Two large 6’ community tables, made from locally harvested and naturally felled wood, dominate the space and provide an immediate area for gathering. The space invites individuals to customize the space to suit their needs and to engage others in active problem solving.
