On Wednesday, October 12, Camosun College officially reopened the Wilna Thomas building, which has been renovated in an attempt to serve students better and to address some of the previous shortcomings on the Lansdowne campus. The building, named after a Camosun instructor, social worker, and donor, originally opened in 1996, and the new redeveloped building is available for all disciplines and departments to use as necessary.
Camosun capital projects manager Tyson Loreth says that the $9.3-million project was mostly funded by provincial grants, and that none of the cost was taken from student fees. The building includes new, upgraded technology in existing classrooms, a 150-person gathering hall, an outdoor patio, and an Indigenous classroom that was developed in consultation with Eyēʔ Sqȃ’lewen.
“There’s a specific Indigenous classroom that has been designed for Indigenous learning, and within that classroom, it has additional soundproofing, and it has its own separate HVAC system, which will allow for any smudging or any internal smoke to be exhausted out of the room quickly,” says Loreth. “That’s why it’s so important for the Indigenous learning aspect, so that they have a room on the Lansdowne campus, because they didn’t have one prior to that; it was quite limited for Indigenous learning.”
According to Loreth, there are also two new classrooms that have been designed as maker spaces, which can be anything the school deems it to be, but they’re mostly an opportunity for alternative teaching and technology. The By The Books café has also been moved from the library building into the new Wilna Thomas building, and there are also about a dozen small breakout rooms that are available for students and college employees to use for meetings and studying. There is also an Idea Lab for students to meet and collaborate in.
Another significant consideration made while developing the building was the lack of space for students to exist on campus outside of classes. The new building has been designed as a place for students to hang out, study, and spend time together, rather than leave the campus between classes.
“There was very limited hangout space and soft seating on the Lansdowne campus. There was no space for students to relax and hang out in, so therefore they left the campus between morning and evening class, or maybe go down to Hillside mall, because there wasn’t any areas to allow that,” says Loreth. “The new Wilna Thomas building has been designed to allow students to hang out, study, collaborate, and just spend time on campus.”
Loreth says Camosun is proud of the new space, and hopes that students, faculty, and the community at large will take advantage of it.
“The college wants the student[s] and community to know that the building is there and open, and we hope they use it to its full ability, and that we’re very excited to offer those new spaces on the Lansdowne campus,” says Loreth.