School and Arts & Student Center Breaks Ground

The S/L/A/M Collaborative (SLAM), a Glastonbury-based national architecture firm, completed programming, design, and documentation for the 27,800 square-foot renovation and addition of the Five Arts & Student Center at St. Timothy’s School, a private all-girls high school established in 1882. The project broke ground on Fri., Feb. 2 and construction is estimated to be completed in December 2018. SLAM is also providing structural engineering, landscape architecture, and cost estimating services. 

“We are pleased to partner with St. Timothy’s in this important enhancement project that will provide students, faculty and staff with a quality arts, academic and student activity space on campus that matches the high-quality educational experience currently afforded students,” says Richard Connell, FAIA, SLAM principal-in-charge. “The space transformation will also benefit the public through a new art gallery space, where art by students, the community, and visiting artists will be exhibited.”

The former, two-story Hannah More Arts Center, now named the Five Arts & Student Center, home to programs in literature, theatre, dance, visual arts and music, will undergo a renovation including a new contemporary façade and an additional floor to the structure.  Other significant upgrades to the facility will include a refurbished 320-seat theater featuring new seats, lighting and A/V, a full-service Health and Wellness Center, additional classroom space for the English Department, and an expanded 1,000 square-foot Art Gallery. The courtyard located between the Five Arts & Student Center and dining facility will be redesigned with new ornamental trees, benches and new pavers, creating a more welcoming space to relax in between classes in the outdoors.

SLAM’s previous work on campus includes the design of The Commons and Redland Café and Dixon Hall, the main Academic Building.

Featured

  • Architectural Power for the Modern Campus Landscape

    For generations, an outdoor classroom only required a textbook and a patch of grass. Today, not only has the laptop replaced the printed pages, the rise of agile learning has turned campuses into study halls with students listening to lectures and researching topics from quads, gardens, and plazas. The challenge for architects and facility managers is to provide connectivity without cluttering the landscape with visual eyesores or creating safety hazards with extension cords.

  • GeoCam and UCLA: Modernizing Campus Accessibility Mapping

    In early 2025, UCLA partnered with GeoCam to capture and modernize its pedestrian infrastructure data. The goal was ambitious but clear: to produce a high-accuracy, imagery-backed digital map of every sidewalk, pathway, ramp, and ADA-related feature on UCLA’s 419-acre campus.

  • Girl Sitting at Library Desk, Using Laptop

    How Campus Design Shapes the Finals Week Experience

    Academic performance is not just about preparation. It is closely tied to how students manage stress, maintain their energy, and shift between work and recovery modes. Much of that is influenced, directly or indirectly, by design.

  • Children walking along bright school corridor with motion blur

    How Next-Gen Design Is Reshaping the Student Experience

    The environments where students learn play a crucial role in shaping their growth in and out of the classroom. By centering design on well-being, flexibility, and purpose, districts can ensure their facilities remain vibrant community assets for many years to come.