Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

HMFH Architects Unveils Design for Boston High-Rise Public School

  • By Matt Jones
  • 08/25/21

The city of Boston, Mass., will soon be getting a new public school. HMFH Architects announced this week that it is putting finishing touches on the design for Josiah Quincy Upper School (JQUS), which will stand in a one-acre lot in the city’s “dense and diverse Chinatown neighborhood,” according to a news release. Construction is scheduled to begin in September and be finished in time for the 2024–25 academic year.

The school will serve 650 students in grades 6–12. JQUS will cover 178,000 square feet and feature amenities like rooftop outdoor classrooms; learning spaces for music, art and science; a student-grown garden; athletic and fitness spaces; and particular attention to healthy spaces, including an advanced air quality system. The building will feature enhanced air filtering and a fresh air make-up system to compensate for airborne pollution from two nearby highways.

John Quincy Upper School Rendering
Photo credit: HMFH Architects

The zero-carbon facility will be powered entirely by electricity, and rooftop photovoltaic arrays will provide 14% of the building’s power.

“Fitting a robust educational program onto this dense, urban site was paramount in our planning,” said Pip Lewis, AIA, Project Director with HMFH Architects. “Equally important was weaving the school appropriately into the urban and neighborhood context, which required thoughtful consideration from streetscape to skyline.”

Construction is being funded through the City of Boston and the Massachusetts School Building Authority. Turner Construction will serve as the project’s construction manager, and Skanska USA Building will serve as the owner’s project manager.

About the Author

Matt Jones is senior editor of Spaces4Learning. He can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  • University of Kansas Breaks Ground on Entrepreneurship Hub

    The University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kan., recently held a groundbreaking ceremony for the new KU Entrepreneurship Hub, according to university news. The Hub is part of the university’s School of Business and will include spaces for experiential learning and programming.

  • AAADM Announces Building Safety Month Initiatives

    The American Association of Automatic Door Manufacturers (AAADM) recently announced its support of Building Safety Month as declared by the International Code Council (ICC), according to a news release.

  • Campus Safety Requires Using Every Resource Available

    Across the U.S., school and campus leaders are facing a security landscape that has changed dramatically over the past decade. Incidents on school property have increased in recent years, with several consecutive years setting record totals. According to analysis of data by CNN, dozens of shootings now occur on school grounds annually across K-12 and higher education environments.

  • abstract illustration of school gym

    How the Gymnasium Can Serve as a Model for Learning Space Design

    Multipurpose gyms work because flexibility was built into the brief from the start, not retrofitted later. The same logic applies to academic spaces.