Modern HS with Skylights Upgrades Historic Mass. Town

  • By Yvonne Marquez
  • 09/10/19

The new Billerica Memorial High School, in the historic town of Billerica (just north of Boston), recently opened its doors to more than 1,600 students in grades 8 through 12, plus 200 students in their Pre-K program. After a 2012 district-wide master plan identified the need for a new high school, a collaboration between the Massachusetts School Building Authority and the town of Billerica, resulted in a 324,000 square-foot new building that emphasizes a flexible learning environment and serves as a community resource.

The new Billerica Memorial High School, in the historic town of Billerica (just north of Boston), emphasizes a flexible learning environment and serves as a community resource. Inside, skylights and large windows create an open and bright environment.

The $176 million project was designed by Perkins and Will, constructed by Shawmut Design and Construction and project managed by Leftfield.

The new building is built on the old school site and will include a stadium, turf field, courtyard with an outdoor stage and movie screen, which will be completed by the end of the school year. Inside, skylights and large windows create an open and bright environment.  

Billerica Memorial, designed with community in mind, can accommodate town-wide events in the gym, auditorium and dining commons. Additional site improvements like bike and walking paths and a quad-style civic green will offer lots of spaces for the community to gather.

Perkins and Will incorporated the high school’s past and the town’s history as a New England mill town into their design. They integrated archival photos of the high school, including some of former U.S. President John F. Kennedy visiting the school as a senator, into the interior design. They opted for traditional building materials while also adding a modern touch.

“At every scale, we used simple, honest materials — wood, brick, steel — in thoughtful, inventive compositions. In that way, we marry the architectural grammar with the community’s story,” Patrick Cunningham, designer at Perkins and Will, said in a press release.

About the Author

Yvonne Marquez is senior editor of Spaces4Learning. She can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  • University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Debuts New Chemistry Building

    The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in Milwaukee, Wis., recently celebrated the grand opening of a new Chemistry Building, according to a news release. The facility measures in at 163,400 square feet, stands four stories, and has the capacity for about 5,000 chemistry and biochemistry students.

  • American University Launches Sustainability Research Project

    American University in Washington, D.C., recently began a research project exploring the relationship between purchase decisions for university campuses and sustainability, according to a news release. The study seeks to explore how “greening” the purchases involved in student housing renovations, breaking ground on new facilities, buying new equipment and supplies, and more, can foster larger sustainability goals.

  • PBK Names New Managing Principal for Dallas Office

    Architectural planning and design firm PBK recently named Danny Berger as the new Managing Principal for its Dallas office, according to a news release. He’ll fill the role following the retirement of Rick Blan on Oct. 31 after almost 30 years with the firm.

  • How Data Increases Community Confidence in School Facilities

    In school districts across America, the start of a new school year is met with optimism and new beginnings. But as the back-to-school excitement wears off, it recedes to the reality that many school facilities are in the same state of infrastructural decline that they’ve faced for years, if not decades, as these facilities deteriorate.

Digital Edition