​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 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.

“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.

“In my mind you cannot find a better firm.”

– Jack Grube, CTE Director

“On every project they listened and worked with our staff to bring to fruition buildings that were exactly what our teaching staff wanted.”

– Mary Anderson, Headmaster

Pinkerton Academy’s decision to build a new freshman academy building resulted from years of research and deliberation on how best to facilitate the 8th grade to high school transition. The new 133,000 square foot, three story building houses the school’s 800 freshmen for their four core subjects each day. It also houses a freshman cafeteria, administrative offices, guidance offices, and a media center. The students travel throughout the campus and integrate with the upperclassmen to attend specialized subjects such as art, music, phys ed, language and technology.

The freshman building is designed to provide the 9th graders with a home base on campus. At its core is a centralized, light-filled inviting lobby that gives the students a place to gather between periods where they can socialize while being monitored. Off this lobby are the offices, staff rooms, and media center, which houses four computer labs. A 130 seat lecture hall with full multimedia presentation and lab demonstration infrastructure, will provide a place for teams of students to meet as a group. The building also houses three vocational programs, including a state-of-the art culinary arts program with teaching kitchen and restaurant that will serve the public.

All classrooms in the building are equipped with Interwrite smart boards and ceiling mounted data projectors, controlled from built-in lecterns, each with a computer and sound system.

The building incorporates a multitude of high performance features to promote energy efficiency, long-term life cycle cost savings, and a healthy environment. This begins at the building envelope, with 8″ of monolithic urethane roof insulation and 3″ of rigid wall insulation, top quality aluminum windows, a 70 mil white TPO roof, and a green planted roof system at selected areas. The mechanical system employs radiant heating panels and heat recovery wheels to provide an energy efficient, fully air conditioned building. Daylighting is used throughout the building, and is supplemented by indirect, high-efficiency T5 light fixtures. Waterless urinals and natural finishes further contribute to the buildings environmental friendliness.

Durability was of paramount importance when finishes were selected. The lobby, lecture hall and culinary arts restaurant area walls are brick and ground-face concrete block, which are very durable and require no painting. The lobby, first floor corridors and stairs have ceramic tile flooring, the exterior of the building is brick and precast concrete, and the door hardware is the highest quality available.

In addition to the new Freshman Building, this project also includes the demolition of 20 portable classrooms at the center of campus and relandscaping the resulting quadrangle, and the construction of a new 3,000 seat football/track complex with new bleachers, field lighting, synthetic track, and artificial turf playing field.

“I…can testify directly to the cooperation and support that I felt Marinace Architects provided the district throughout the project.”

– Tim Mayes, Superintendent of Schools

The Bedford Middle-High School project began as a design competition in which the proposals of the five competitors were evaluated against a wide range of criteria without the evaluators’ knowledge of which plan belonged to which team. Our design was determined to be far and away the best and most responsive to the program, while at the same time representing the least expensive option. We were consequently awarded the project, which was approved overwhelmingly by the voters in March of 2005.

The building houses grades 7-12 in two separate wings, which isolate the student groups from each other, but still allow common access to core spaces such as the cafeterias, gymnasiums, and the auditorium. Careful planning allows many core areas to be opened to the public after school hours, including the two gymnasiums, which have a common folding wall which can be retracted to create a 20,000 square foot room capable of seating over 3,000 people. By folding the classroom wings around two central courtyards, the building footprint is kept compact, which results in less exterior wall and therefore a more economical building to construct, maintain, and heat.

The key goals of the Epping Middle High School addition and renovation project were to provide the middle school students with their own, distinct space within the building, to add a full size high school gymnasium, and to improve traffic and parking problems on the site.

Because it was critical to the school district to keep the middle school and high school students separate, but to still share core spaces such as the guidance offices, nurse, music, and cafeteria, we designed a two story middle school addition separated from the rest of the building by a courtyard. Each school has its own entry, lobby, and general office. Building a new middle school space also allowed the classroom layout to be optimized for team teaching, something that was not possible in the existing building.

The high school gym addition provides a gym large enough for two full sized practice basketball courts, and bleacher seating for 725 people. There are also two new large locker rooms, public toilets, a concession stand, a new boiler room, and storage. The addition also includes a new music suite, and upgrades to the existing stage.

The courtyard was conceived as a means to provide a physical separation between the middle school and high school. As the project progressed, the school district and volunteer groups in the community took possession of this space and worked hard to create a beautifully landscaped space that serves as a focal point for the school.

As with most renovation / addition projects, construction took place while the school was fully occupied with minimal disturbance to daily school functions.