Perkins+Will Re-Imagines Future Education With Billerica Memorial High School’s Flexible Design

5/14/17

One of the largest schools in Mass. to feature more collaboration space

Construction has begun on Perkins+Will’s visionary design for the Billerica (Mass.) Memorial High School (BMHS), a 325,000-square-foot, $176 million facility scheduled to open in the fall of 2019. The school, designed to accommodate more than 1,610 students from grades 8 through 12, as well as a 200-student Pre-K program, will look and operate quite differently from a traditional high school.

Instead of classrooms with student desks facing an instructor and a blackboard, the school is designed to emulate modern workplaces, and to evolve with new flexible ways of teaching and learning such as student-centered classrooms. BMHS’ design will bring hands-on experience into the general academic environment, including “makerspaces,” robotics rooms, ‘FAB LABs’ — for material fabrication — and engineering classrooms. Additionally, the school is designed for students to work on individual or creative projects across disciplines in a collaborative environment including art, graphic design, computer labs and innovation spaces. Individual spaces can easily be repurposed, and classrooms and spaces support larger scale reconfiguration to allow for future teaching pedagogies.

“Our design reflects the capacity to adapt because change is happening more quickly and what students learn and how they do it is evolving, requiring more cross-disciplinary thinking,” says Perkins+Will principal Brooke Trivas. “In fact, that is how we work as a design firm and how we approached this project. Our experts on labs, sports, health care, interior design, office and sustainability all collaborated to bring the newest research and thinking to creating Billerica Memorial High School.”

Perkins+Will designed BMHS in partnership with the town of Billerica, LeftField (OPM) and Shawmut Construction. Other recent education projects include William Jones College Preparatory High School, Edina High School + Valley View Middle School, Pitt River Middle School, Brimmer and May School and Phillips Andover Academy.

About Perkins+Will

Perkins+Will is an interdisciplinary, research-based architecture and design firm established in 1935. Founded on the belief that design has the power to transform lives and enhance communities, we collaborate with clients all over the world to create healthy, sustainable places in which to live, learn, work, play, and heal. More than 2,000 professionals across over 20 Perkins+Will offices include some of the brightest minds in architecture, interior design, branded environments, urban design, and landscape architecture. Clients consistently turn to us for our leadership and expertise in areas like sustainability, resilience, health and wellness, and mobility. Additionally, our 10Research Labs catalyze innovative design technologies and solutions that result in better, smarter, more competitive built environments. The recipient of hundreds of design awards each year, and a progressive leader in corporate social responsibility, Perkins+Will is consistently ranked among the world’s top design firms. Our family of partner companies includes retail strategy and design consultancyPortland; transportation planning consultancyNelson\Nygaard; healthcare technology planning firmGenesis; and luxury hospitality design firmPierre-Yves Rochon (PYR).

The Boston office of Perkins+Will is located in the city’s downtown core, and serves clients throughout New England and beyond. Anchored in their ability to unite existing context with transformative design, the Boston team designs for the future "sustainably and flexibly" while honoring the cultural and physical context of each project’s location. They are known for design ingenuity, technical expertise, and unwavering commitment to clients, including Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University, Smith College, Shire, Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, Boston Properties, Mitimco, Alexandria Real Estate Equities and Harbinger Development. For more information, visitwww.perkinswill.com/offices/boston

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