Renovation Begins at Maryland High School

The S/L/A/M Collaborative (SLAM), a Glastonbury, Conn.-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 in February of 2018, and construction is estimated to be completed in December 2018. SLAM is also providing structural engineering, landscape architecture, and cost estimating services.

St. Timothy's School

“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

  • Designing for Every Mind

    Learning environments have the power to shape not just what students know, but who they become. When a school is designed with genuine empathy—for the full range of ways students think, sense, and engage with the world—it becomes more than a building. It becomes a catalyst for growth, confidence, and belonging. That is the animating idea behind neurodiverse design, and it is one that is transforming how more architects and designers are thinking about school design.

  • Virginia Tech Tops Out New College of Engineering Building

    Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va., recently celebrated the topping out of Mitchell Hall, which will soon stand as the largest College of Engineering building on campus, according to a news release. The university partnered with Skanska on the 285,500-square-foot facility, which has an expected completion date of winter 2028.

  • Q&A: How to Prevent Kitchen Grease Fires in Commercial Kitchens

    School cafeterias and university dining halls serve thousands of meals daily, relying on high-heat equipment like fryers, grills, and ovens. While these operations keep students fed, they also generate significant grease-laden vapors. Without proper controls, this grease becomes a silent fire threat. As a certified exhaust cleaning specialist and business coach who has helped hundreds of institutional facilities achieve NFPA 96 compliance, I emphasize that proactive grease management isn’t optional; it’s a core fire/life safety practice.

  • Tomball ISD Opens New Tomball West High School

    Tomball Independent School District in Tomball, Texas, recently celebrated the official opening of Tomball West High School, the district's third comprehensive high school, with a community ribbon-cutting ceremony, according to a district news release.