Tasked with generating awareness and excitement about Saint Mary’s University’s Atrium and Global Learning Commons, Crystal and I poured through documents and renderings about the project. But it wasn’t enough. We needed to see it for ourselves.

That's right, we're rockin' those hard hats.

So, we pulled on our hard hats and closed-toed shoes and trekked over to SMU to get an up-close-and-personal look at the construction from the inside.

Serving as a gateway to and from every corner of SMU, the Atrium provides access to the library, the newly renovated science building and the Burke building, giving purpose to a formerly little-used portion of the campus.

Views like this make us wish we were SMU students, too.

Even through the beams and the concrete, it’s easy to see what the Atrium is going to become. With natural light pouring down from the wide-open skylight, the living bio wall climbing up thee stories, and the structure in place for what will soon be a flourishing experimental green roof, the Atrium/Global Learning Commons is a beacon of environmental sustainability.

The experimental green roof is going to provide so many learning opportunities for SMU students and professors.

Still in the construction phase, the Atrium will provide SMU students with a wireless Global Learning Commons, complete with multi-purpose rooms and lecture theatres, offices for professors and graduate students, as well as a Just Us Café. More than just a shared space, the Global Learning Commons is meant to be a hub for networking both face-to-face, as well as online.

Being unveiled in phases, the thoroughfare portion will be open to students when the 2009 school year kicks off, with more features opening in the fall. The grand opening will take place in January.

There’s much more to come on this exciting project. Stay tuned …

Originally from New Brunswick — though she now considers herself a Haligonian — Lindsey Bunin has a combined honours degree in journalism and political science from the University of King's College. She worked as special features editor for The Daily News until the paper's unfortunate closure in 2008. Some of her other publication credits include The Hill Times, Business Voice, Metro Halifax and The Weekly News. Lindsey came to Trampoline as Online Content Coordinator to lend her talents to our clients’ web content and assist in the development of social media strategy. Some of her clients include The Vault Jewelry, Saint Mary’s University, The Chronicle Herald and Nova Scotia Health Promotion and Protection. When Lindsey isn't busy writing or editing, she's usually doing something crafty or exploring the great outdoors with her husband.