In August 2023, the Trout Museum of Art (TMA) and Lawrence University announced a plan to partner and develop a new 100,000-square-foot building. The upper three floors will serve as the West Campus offices. The rebuilding of the TMA and the addition of the offices were sponsored by an anonymous donation of $10 million from a Lawrence alum.
Lawrence University Vice President, Chief of Staff and Secretary to the Board Christyn Abaray, stated that the rebuilding of the Trout Museum aims to provide new opportunities, emphasizing its potential to foster connections between Lawrence and the broader Appleton area through culture, education and community living.
“The new building is designed to create a vibrant home for the TMA, provide innovative academic programming spaces for Lawrence University and include market-rate apartments for the Appleton community,” Abaray said.
According to a press release, the new building will focus on enhancing career readiness for students, especially in the humanities division with its Humanities Center. A recent guide published by Lawrence University on Jan. 3 described the center as being home to “formal” and “experimental” learning, offering a chance for faculty and students to collaborate intellectually. Abaray added that the development will also attempt to unite the Conservatory of Music and the humanities department.
“West Campus will be our first building intentionally created to connect different fields, featuring state-of-the-art, soundproof teaching studios and classrooms for music, bringing Conservatory faculty together with college faculty,” Abaray said. “This first floor will house our new Humanities Center, a cutting-edge area for digital humanities projects with advanced tools and equipment.”
On Friday, March 7, 2024, Lawrence held a groundbreaking ceremony for the site of the new building. Two hundred members of the combined Appleton and Lawrence community attended the event. The ceremony was led by many leaders of the Lawrence and Appleton spaces, including the then-Lawrence University Community Council (LUCC) President Anders Hanhan, ‘24, and President Laurie Carter, who spoke of the TMA-Lawrence partnership’s impact.
“[This partnership] will provide new opportunities for our students to engage with community partners through internships and other collaborations as we prepare the next generation of thoughtful, inspired leaders,” Carter stated.
On Friday, April 4, 2024, students received an email from the Dean of Students detailing this project. The email shows a number of dates that students should keep an eye out for regarding construction updates.
Some students have had concerns about the inconveniences caused by the construction as it has progressed. Kris Martinez, a sophomore who resided in Colman Hall as a first-year, explained how, due to the heat of the season, he would often leave his window open, exposing him to the noise. Sophomore Damien Felicano said that due to the construction-related closing of the Ormsby Hall turnaround, he experienced trouble moving in this year.
“Move-in day was difficult, for sure. The GPS wasn’t directing us fully due to this road being shut down,” Felicano stated.
As of now, the road leading up to Ormsby Hall has reopened, having been previously shut down for construction.
The TMA will be operating at its current location (adjacent to Houdini Plaza) until late spring 2025 and will reopen in fall 2025 at the new location.