​Lane Hall is one of the oldest classroom buildings on the New Hampton School campus and one of the last to be renovated. The mid-1800s building housed classrooms that were bright and airy, but in need of updating and modernizing. Corridors were tight or discontinuous, with no handicap accessibility to any of the four floors. Renovations solved accessibility deficiencies, modernized classrooms and lobby spaces, and added additional classrooms on a previously unoccupied third floor. Designing the new stair addition was a challenge, not only due to a tight site conditions, but also because the building is among a series of historic academic buildings at the heart of the New Hampton campus.  The front, street-facing façade retains its historic and monumental scale, while the rear, campus-facing facade becomes a bit more playful, approachable, and engaging.

This very unique and exciting project addressed many concerns at the joint Lebanon High School and Hanover Street Elementary School building. With mirrored additions on each school, we designed a fun, playful elementary classroom addition which balanced a more traditional yet modern high school addition. The new entry and student center at the front of the high school provides a bright, sunny space for students to gather and socialize, while also creating a secure, accessible new front entrance. Also included in this addition is a music suite with band room, practice rooms, and offices.

Hanover Street School gained two additions, one housing a much-needed new cafeteria and kitchen, the other containing large, bright, classrooms.  Additional renovations to the school addressed accessibility and special needs programming, as well as cosmetic updates.

Our work for the Tapply Thompson Community Center included a near-complete renovation of the existing building, and focused on addressing accessibility and code compliance concerns in the historic structure. This is a heavily used community building, and the design had to address today’s program needs while also remaining flexible for future uses. With a mix of activities including childcare, sports camps, adult programing, community wide dances, and a renowned Christmas fair, the finishes had to be durable, inviting, and flexible, while still paying homage to the historic building and unique original woodwork.

New Hampton School asked us to examine the entire campus, ascertaining which buildings needed renovation or replacement, but also plan for the longer-term future development of the campus.

Throughout our research, our underlying theme was to focus on the school’s community spaces, with our goal being to suggest how and where the campus could adapt to foster a greater sense of community, both among students and faculty families. A few of the items that we highlighted, which the school wishes to explore further were: a new dining hall, a combined student center and visual arts building, two new campus greens, and a new main entrance into the north side of campus. Our schematic designs of these spaces bring a more contemporary style to campus architecture, incorporating lots of bright, airy communal spaces, open floor plans, and flexible layouts. Outdoor spaces allow for better pedestrian traffic through the campus, but also provide numerous gathering spaces and integrated play spaces.

“Our sincere thanks to Paul and Margaret for the thoughtful time put into each project.”

– Jill Duncan, Chief Financial Officer, NHS

New Hampton School acquired a new property on the edge of campus, surrounded by both faculty and off campus housing. They asked us to design a dormitory for 32 students with attached residences for three faculty families. Students rooms will be spread across two floors which share an open, two story lounge space, providing excellent views of the campus. Each floor will have bathrooms, laundry, trash and recycling stations and student storage rooms. Common areas include a lounge, kitchen, study spaces and teacher offices.

The challenge of designing this new dormitory was to incorporate everything required in the program while minimizing the overall scale of the building to complement the surrounding houses. An additional challenge was the site, which not only sloped in two directions, but was also at the gateway to campus and the village of New Hampton. By placing each of the three residences on the ends of an L-shaped dormitory building, each faculty family was given a bit of privacy, student supervision was optimized, and the smaller scale of the residences minimized the larger mass of the dormitory building. The use of dormers, porches and steep gable roofs tied the architecture of the dormitory to the vernacular architecture of the neighboring New England homes. The sloping site allowed for sweeping views of campus, best seen from a new outdoor patio accessible from the student lounge. The design successfully blended the need for space within the building with respect for the surrounding architecture of a small New England village.

“The Marinace Architect team…designed a new faculty residence that is perfectly placed, blending in with its surroundings like it was meant to be there.”

– Jill Duncan, Chief Financial Officer, NHS

This new faculty residence is nestled into the heart of campus, providing New Hampton School with a much needed four-bedroom, single family housing option. The house blends into the existing architecture of the village with deep porches, large windows and steeply pitched roofs. The idea was to create a house that looks like it has been a part of campus for a hundred years, while providing a bright and open living space for its residents. The four-bedroom home, while compact, provides an open concept kitchen/dining/living room and spacious bedrooms with great views of campus.

“Their design of a new fitness center gives students something significant to look forward to.”

– Jill Duncan, Chief Financial Officer, NHS

New Hampton School wished to increase fitness options for their students by offering studio classes and providing additional weight and conditioning equipment. They needed additional space for the added programs, but also felt that the large, existing gymnasium was underused. By capturing space within the existing gymnasium, we were able to design them a spacious, new fitness center while still maintaining a fully functioning basketball gym. By adding a second-floor mezzanine, along with an elevated catwalk, three new rooms were created to provide the programming space New Hampton School was looking for. The new spaces include a 3,600sf weight training room, a 1,800sf dance/yoga studio, a 1,600sf Cardio room, as well as toilets, storage rooms and stairs. The renovation also provides new windows into the existing gymnasium to provide natural light and sweeping campus views. The new catwalk will become a popular viewing platform during basketball games.

“If a child loves school, there is so much you can do with them..”

– Ann Freitag, Principal

Concerned with life safety issues, as well as overcrowding, at the Hinsdale Elementary School, school officials approached us to help find a solution. The biggest obstacle they faced was finding ground level classrooms for the growing preschool, kindergarten and first grade population in their existing 3 story school. The solution was to construct an eight room, single story addition at the back of the school, and renovate the existing first-floor classrooms to accommodate program space for the youngest students. The addition includes six regular classrooms as well as art and music rooms. All classrooms have their own toilets and dedicated storage space. Large windows let in plenty of natural light, while exterior sun shades prevent excess heating in the warmest months. The spacious classrooms, equipped with radiant floor heat, indirect lighting, and soft finishes provide a comfortable environment for these young students to explore and learn.

“The wide hallways, soft lighting, and warm colors create a calm and inviting environment for all who enter. The classroom spaces are big and bright with lots of natural light flowing in which makes them the optimal places for learning.”

– Kat Crosby, Principal

The town of Middleton had no existing school facilities, so when they approached us and asked that we help them plan, budget, obtain voter approval, design, and construct a new P-6 school, we were honored to help out.

 In an extremely fast track process, we had just over one month to develop a program, design the school, construct a 3d model, establish a budget, and deliver a complete, comprehensive vote package to the school district. Two months later, voters overwhelmingly approved the $6.8M project.

 Conneston Construction was brought on board to serve as construction manager for the project, and school opened 16 months later, on time and under budget.

The school houses preschool through 6th grade in a brick and concrete block building separated into a classroom wing and a community-use core area. The core contains the general offices, community media center / library space, multi-purpose room with raised stage, and a full kitchen. The classrooms are spacious, with high ceilings, large windows looking out on the wooded rural site, and contain the latest technology.

“The project was completed on time and under budget while meeting or exceeding the original education specifications.”

– Patrick Andrew, Superintendent

The original Mascoma VRHS was built in 1962, and had seen very few changes since then. Our charge was to completely renovate the existing 60,000 s.f. building, rework the entire site to improve vehicular circulation and increase parking dramatically, and to add a 43,000 s.f. addition which would house a 500-seat auditorium, library, art and music suites, new lobby, and general office area.

Since the school is perched on top of a 40′ high knoll which slopes steeply down to the flood plain in all directions, our addition had to follow the slope. We turned this challenge into an opportunity, and designed the auditorium stepped seating to follow the existing grades, which resulted in much less blasting of ledge, and a more economical project. The resulting design completely wraps the front of the existing building, and gives the school a much-needed prominent public entry.

Mechanical, plumbing, electrical, data, and security systems throughout the existing building have been modernized, and a new secure front entry has been created. The new auditorium will feature fully-electric stage scenery rigging, stepped, curved seating aisles, a lighting catwalk, and state-of-the-art dimming, audio, voice amplification, projection and CCTV systems.