NEW TRAINING COLLEGE

Evening Star, Issue 23273, 23 May 1939, Page 3

NEW TRAINING COLLEGE

CONSTRUCTION WELL ADVANCED LATEST TREND IN EDUCATIONAL ARCHITECTURE MODERN FACILITIES PROVIDED FOR STUDENTS An important addition to the educational appointments in Otago is the new teachers’ training college at the corner of Union street and Anzac Avenue. This commodious building is now rapidly nearing completion, and it is expected that it will be ready for occupation either at the end of next month or early in July. Its construction was commenced last August. The college will be in striking contrast to the one its replaces in Cumberland street. It was opened in 1909, and based on the changing trend in school architecture within the last few years, it is well out of date, besides being too small for present requirements.

The new college is a two-storied building of wood on concrete foundations, and it will be able to accommodate 330 students. Besides seven classrooms, an art room, a handiwork room, and physical and chemical laboratories, the block will contain an administration section, in which will be included a public office, principal’s and vice-princi-pal’s offices, staff common rooms, lecturers’ rooms, and the library.

One wing is to be occupied by a gymnasium 90ft in length by 30ft wide, and over this will be the assembly hall, which, in addition to a well-equipped stage, dressing rooms, and kitchen, is to be fitted with a projection room and apparatus for visual education, in which the Otago Education Board is keenly Interested. Another wing will house the students’ common rooms, in conjunction with which! special provision has been made for locker and cloakroom accommodation. MODERN DESIGN. Throughout, the building has been designed in conformity with the latest ideas in educational ‘architecture. The layout has been arranged so that each room receives the maximum amount of sunshine. Central heating is provided for. and one particularly notable innovation has been the wiring of all the rooms for radio loudspeaker extensions. Already the new college presents a handsome exterior. An imposing forecourt facing Union street provides the entrance to the administration section, the assembly hall, and the gymnasium. The students’ entrances are from Anzac Avenue and also from Union street. Besides providing ample room for recreational areas —the site occupies two and a-half acres—the college is very conveniently situated, as it is not far from the University and the Normal School, and it is within a stone's throw of the University Oval. A commencement has already been made with the laying out of the spacious lawns and the planting of trees and shrubs. This work is being supervised by Mr F. L. C. Scrivener, of the Otago Education Board. The plans for the college were drawn by the board’s architect.