Flexible Learning Space

Designed by Utile Inc., Boston, the Barn is part of the school’s 2014 vision plan, which looks to improve functionality, provide flexible space and clarify the circulation patterns of the campus. “Essential to the mission for the building was that it would serve all children on campus from Pre-K to 8th grade by providing the right, flexible combination of small and big spaces, tailored for particular types of collaboration, small-group work, teaching spaces and gathering areas,” explains Keith Case, AIA, LEED Green Associate, associate at Utile.

The flexible, 15,700-square-foot indoor athletics fieldhouse has two, dual-use basketball and volleyball courts, while the 13,300-square-foot, two-story headhouse has offices, locker rooms, and five, workshop-style STEAM classrooms. Large, glass garage doors in the fieldhouse create a direct connection to the surrounding landscape. Along with operable clerestory windows, the garage doors offer passive cooling for the fieldhouse, while rooftop photovoltaic panels provide part of the building’s power.

The fieldhouse is a pre-engineered steel building with insulated metal panels from Varco Pruden Buildings, Memphis, Tenn. The metal building spans over the head house, which uses corrugated metal cladding from Bristol, Conn.-based Morin Corp., a Kingspan Group company, and an exposed structure in the stick-built, steel classroom building. “Circulation spaces, generous enough for gathering and breakout learning, mediate between the focused learning areas and the gym activity,” explains Case. “The language of large and playful openings in the building spans from the stick-built steel classroom bar to the pre-engineered metal gym building creating a common character within both and open this building to the rest of the campus. Custom millwork pieces, often tied to window openings, offer the space a more intimate, warm and tailored scale within an economical, largely exposed and undecorated shell building that serves as a learning tool in itself.”

According to Case, the decision was made early on to use a pre-engineered metal building for the gym component, as it was the most cost-effective way to deliver the needed long spans. It also allowed the designers to embrace the pre-engineered building vernacular while working with metal siding to create pattern, texture and shadows to enrich the building’s facades. “The upper portion of the gym facade is standard metal cladding directly specified from [VP’s] selections,” he says. “However, the lower portion of the gym elevation and the classroom wing are artfully composed with corrugated metal panels and phenolic panel accents. We also wanted to celebrate the steel structure and metal decking on the interior and used an acoustic decking at the roof and the first-floor ceiling. This allowed us to have the visual interest of the open ceilings while providing the acoustic performance needed for the teaching environments.”

To eliminate the need for dropped ceilings, while increasing the room height, the ductwork is exposed in the classrooms. It also provides a teaching opportunity in looking at the building systems.