Trinity College has engaged the prominent firm, Schwartz/Silver Architects, to start the design process for a new laboratory arts building and renovation of Austin Arts Center.  The new arts building will be to the arts what laboratories are to the sciences—a place for experiential learning and experimentation—and will create a sense of community for arts students.  The laboratory building will house Art History, Studio Arts, and the studio elements of the Theater and Dance Department.  It will provide visual art studios; theater and dance studios and performance labs; art history classrooms; object study rooms; and technique, materials and conservations labs.

Austin Arts Center renovation includes a rejuvenated Goodwin Theatre and the addition of a recital hall and black box theatre.  The Center will house the Music Department and provide office space for the Theater and Dance faculty, the production and administrative staff, and all support areas typically associated with performing arts activity (i.e. scene shop, costume shop, prop shop, dressing rooms, green room, box office, etc).

The two buildings together will comprise an arts corridor, which as outlined in the Master Plan of 2006, will be the primary sites that visitors first encounter as they enter the College grounds. This foregrounding of the arts physically indicates Trinity's commitment to the arts in substance as we move forward in creating a culture at Trinity that celebrates what the arts offer to a reinvigorated campus life.