Otago Polytechnic School of Art head Bridie Lonie and group
manager of creative and applied technologies Alistair Regan
examine plans for the art school annex taking shape behind
them. Photo by Craig Baxter.
A Building under construction at the Otago Polytechnic
School of Art will allow the polytechnic to bring home students
now housed in other parts of the city.
The $3 million, twin-level annex will adjoin P Block, which
was constructed in 1997. The rest of the school occupies the
former Dunedin North Intermediate School buildings on the
same Albany St site.
Head of school Bridie Lonie said she was looking forward to
having around 225 art students together again.
"This building enables us to take students back . . . from
two unsatisfactory sites elsewhere. It means we will be a
single community again."
The extra space would also allow the school to deal with
increased student enrolments, she said yesterday.
The annex, expected to be completed in February in time for
the start of the 2009 academic year, will have flexible
studio spaces upstairs and a large lecture theatre and
spacious gallery downstairs.
It will also be the school's "front door", with a new main
entrance leading out on to Reigo St.
The gallery was a first for the polytechnic, and a welcome
addition for students who needed to learn how a
professionally run gallery worked, Ms Lonie said.
"It has been designed to professional standards with
appropriate storage, which will enable our students to
achieve a higher level of professional practice . . ."
The gallery would be open to the public and would show the
works of students and outside artists, she said.
The art school annex is one of two major projects part-funded
by a capital works grant from the Tertiary Education
Commission.
The other is a $4 million revamp and extension of the student
centre in Harbour Tce to enable the catering and hospitality
school to be relocated from its present site in Tennyson St,
near Otago Girls High School.
The target completion date for that project is June.
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