Information commons at the heart of school life

Welcome lobby: open & transparent

Central information commons with overlook

Working academic courtyard with learning pavilions

Sloped amphitheater; community & sectional connections

Prefabricated ironwood sunscreen trellis

Art & music classrooms thrust forward

Ironwood columns for function & civic scale

Materials chosen to reflect their surroundings

Split level section using the hillside

Parallel wings harvesting the sun

Forming the heart of campus connections

Fitting into the landscape

Light collecting gymnasium with interior baffles

Sample Description

Academic courtyard at the crossroads of school identity and campus connections

The Field School

The Town of Weston, Weston, MA

Pierced by a new north-south pedestrian walkway the new school connects two sister ‘feeder’ schools to the north with a shared amphitheater and shared playfields. The overall building orientation combined with the specialized envelope maximizes daylighting of the classrooms and minimizes unequal heating and cooling loads. A sloped site section was employed to create a walkout basement which minimizes the bulk of the gymnasium. The Field’s innovative collaborative teaching culture inspired a quality of openness - with programmed use of public spaces and the visible celebration of student learning and achievement. This is evident in the numerous ‘break-out’ or public student project spaces distributed through the building.

Size: 65,390 gsf

Recognition

2018 Award for Design Excellence, Citation AIA/New England
2016 International Architecture Award, Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture & Design and The European Centre
Finalist 2017 & 2015 Harleston-Parker Medal AIA/Boston Society for Architecture & City of Boston
2015 Award for Design Excellence AIA/Boston Society for Architecture
2015 American Architecture Award The Chicago Athenaeum and The European Centre
2015 Building of the Year: East, Runner-up The Architect’s Newspaper