“It has transformed the perception of the community, and makes people here aspire to do great things.”, Architect: “You can approach daylighting and form in such a way that you push light and shadow around to animate the site and building.” For example, the team envisioned students entering from the east in the morning with early light playing off the facade. By colocating labs and universal classrooms around open flexible spaces, instructors in different departments are empowered to collaborate in small project-focused “town centers.”. Photo © Chuck Choi, click to enlarge. It’s a concept we’ve called reflection with direction—honoring the past, aiming for the future—and it’s woven throughout the fabric of the new building’s architecture, detailing, and branding. The new Billerica Memorial High School is coming to life. In envisioning a new building, “the teachers talked about open spaces, free exchange of ideas, and not wanting to be constrained by classroom walls,” says school principal Tom Murphy. Billerica Memorial High School is a new high school constructed under the auspices of the Massachusetts School Building Authority at a cost of $172 million. I want to hear from you. The walking track above the gym in the new Billerica Memorial High School. All Rights Reserved BNP Media. Photos © Chuck Choi. Incorporated in 1655, Billerica, Massachusetts, shifted over time from an agrarian center to a 19th-century mill town. The Billerica Memorial High School will serve 1,620 students and accommodate grades 8-12, demanding a sensitivity to diverse age groups that share core spaces. Billerica Memorial High School will halt in-person learning, just one day after attendance fell below 75 percent. Transparency and daylight enliven all precincts of the school, from a triple-height commons (3) to informal study areas (4), classrooms (5), the gym (6), and interdisciplinary hubs (7). Kawneer, Glazing: The tower nods to nearby civic structures in the historic center and serves as a memorial to those in the armed services—the original building was dedicated as a memorial high school post WWII, in 1955. In her current position, she oversees the day-to-day operations, planning, and production of the magazine and edits and writes on a range of projects. Simple, honest materials are synthesized in inventive, three-dimensional compositions. By visiting this website, certain cookies have already been set, which you may delete and block. Sustainable strategies include localized, efficient mechanicals as well as a high-performance insulated envelope (with attention to thermal bridging) and careful allocation of the 28 percent glazing budget to maximize daylighting, such as south-facing skylights that direct light deep into the building. When the doors of Billerica Memorial High School opened on the first day of the new school year, a sense of pride permeated the halls—a palpable sense of gratitude for this physical expression of the town’s contemporary identity. At first, town officials considered relocating the new Billerica Memorial High School, but decided to remain on the same 31-acre site as the old school, which also holds the town hall and the fire and police departments. UPCOMING EVENTS. The architects conceived an L-shaped plan, with academic functions housed in one long leg, and the gym, auditorium, and arts programs in the other, with a triple-height commons as the hinge. Incorporated in 1655, Billerica, Massachusetts, shifted over time from an agrarian center to a 19th-century mill town. He is also a graduate of the school. Thomas Murphy is the principal of Billerica High. Superintendent Timothy Piwowar sent a letter to the school … It’s located in the historic Town of Billerica (just north of Boston)—a town with a long history extending back … The old school, in old-school fashion, had a tightly segregated program. Billerica Memorial High School released its honor roll for the first quarter of the 2020-2021 school year. 35 River Street. Billerica, MA. Town of Billerica - New Billerica Memorial High School. Billerica Memorial High School has been recognized in the 2020 Interior Design Association New England Chapter (IIDA New England) Design Awards, winning both the Education category and the prestigious Best in Show.Two more prestigious awards for the High School project. And they designed the massing of the academic bar, containing the classrooms, to ensure even light in those spaces throughout the day. HON, Spec, Allsteel, Hightower, KI, Steelcase. Billerica Memorial High School. “The materiality of this inner lining,” points out Perkins&Will principal and project leader Brooke Trivas, “allowed us to look to the future.” This same forward-looking attitude carries into the interiors with branding (in the form of the school color, logo, and slogans) and no-nonsense durable finishes like painted steel balustrades, terrazzo and rubber flooring, and latticed ash-wood ceilings and walls. Today, with a population of 43,000, Billerica increasingly feeds and hosts the high-tech industry, which has spilled out across the Greater Boston area. Hear from students, staff, and designers about what this project means to them—and how it will shape the future of Billerica. Community Effort, Community Space. Tell me how we can improve. Circulation areas foster active learning; corridors connect visually with the gym and other spaces; and, importantly, flexible-classroom wings are linked to the building’s central spine via interdisciplinary hubs and labs. For horizontal connectivity—as well as to control costs and keep the scale sensitive to the adjacent streets of single-family houses—they limited the building to four levels, with only three above grade. ... Billerica Memorial High School. This AIA CES program deals with the life safety specifics of fire barriers, industry standards and testing. Billerica Memorial High School - BMHS Yearbook (Billerica, MA), Class of 1975, Page 92 of 208 | E-Yearbook.com has the largest online yearbook collection of college, university, high school, middle school, junior high school, military, naval cruise books … !function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)? 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