The University of Otago recently opened the southern
hemisphere's largest dental training simulation suite in the Sir
John Walsh Building in Dunedin. The School of Dentistry's new suite
will provide state-of-the-art teaching opportunities to dentistry
students. Each bench in the 73-chair lab features a mannequin torso
complete with a removable jaw, along with dental equipment and an
individual video screen, allowing students to follow a teaching
demonstration as it occurs.
Signal was commissioned by the University of Otago to manage the
building of the simulation suite and a new Dental School Library
and cafeteria.
Home to the University's School of Dentistry, the Sir John Walsh
Building is a five storey block situated on the corner of Frederick
and Great King Street in Dunedin. The Dental School was built in
1961 and required significant upgrade to many of its services.
The project required the demolition of a large lecture theatre
on the ground floor to make room for the new dental school library,
the construction of a new cafeteria adjacent to the new library,
and, after the library's relocation into the newly refurbished
area, the building of the simulation suite.
The Dental School continued to operate throughout the demolition
and refurbishment often during busy exam periods and a staged
construction strategy was required to ensure continued use of the
building at peak times.