The Council of Independent Colleges: Historic Campus Architecture Project

Summit Tower and Summit Suites (dormitory)

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Summit Tower and Summit Suites (Summit Tower), Trinity College (CT)

Summit Tower and Summit Suites (courtyard), Trinity College (CT)

Institution Name: Trinity College (CT)
Original/Historic Place Name: Summit Tower and Summit Suites (dormitory)
Location on Campus: east side of Summit St. near its intersection with New Britain Ave.
Date(s) of Construction:

2000	original construction Rawn, William L. William Rawn Associates

Designer: William L. Rawn (William Rawn Associates)
Type of Place: Individual building
Style: Contemporary (Glossary)
Significance: architecture, education
Narrative: see below
References: see below

Materials:

Foundation: concrete

Walls: brick, stone

Roof: unknown

Function:

2000-present (2006)	other (space for Sophomore Tutorial College)
2000-present (2006)	residence hall

Narrative:
The Summit Tower and Summit Suites complex by William Rawn Associates was the first building called for by the Cooper Robertson master plan to be erected. Located on the east side of Summit Street near its intersection with New Britain Avenue, this facility provided much-needed dormitory accommodations and continues to provide program space for Trinity's innovative Sophomore Tutorial Program. William Rawn opted for a long bar-like building with accents of structural color in deference to William Burges's Long Walk range. A separate building tower in the complex serves as a beacon on the south side of the campus and as a counterpoint to the Chapel tower on the north side. Along with Pelli's neighboring Mathematics, Computing and Engineering Center, Summit Tower and Summit Suites serves to knit together the disparate buildings around it in a manner that has been characteristic of Trinity's architectural and campus planning history.

References:

Waters, Martin J. "Residential life reaches new heights with 'The Summit'." Trinity Reporter 31, no. 3 (Winter 2001), Trinity College, Hartford, CT, 1-7.