Cambridge, MA – HMFH Architects has completed an $85 million multi-phase renovation project at the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School (CRLS) and the new $50 million Hanover High School. HMFH was commissioned to create innovative educational spaces, provide modern design aesthetics, and establish sustainable design features for both schools.
The total interior renovation of CRLS entailed a two-year phased process that revitalized 400,000sf of the high school’s academic space, which was originally constructed in 1933 and expanded in 1978. The 1,800-student CRLS is the only public high school in the city of Cambridge.
The project is expected to receive LEED® Gold certification as a result of comprehensive sustainable design that includes a photovoltaic rooftop panel array, replacement of the entire heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system, installation of new high-reflectanceroofing and high-performance lighting.
HMFH’s design of Hanover High School, built to replace a 1950’s-era facility, represents a distinct departure from past approaches to departmentalized education.
Programmatically, the new building’s design encourages cross-disciplinary learning, featuring clusters instead of rows of conventional classrooms. The academic wing contains four U-shaped learning pods that consist of five general classrooms, one versatile computer lab, and two science labs, grouped around a central breakout space furnished with soft seating and marker boards to foster small-group learning.
The 157,000sf building also contains a 12,000sf gymnasium, a 540-seat auditorium, a library that is twice the size of the one it replaced, and a dining commons that serves as a gathering place for the school, a lobby for the gymnasium and auditorium, and opens out into a courtyard space.
The building was designed to meet the standards of the Massachusetts Collaborative for High Performance Schools (CHPS) program, and includes an abundance of natural light and ventilation. Design features enhance the school’s connection to adjacent wetlands and the nearby North River; the colorful terrazzo flooring pattern is an abstraction of a river and runs through to the commons from both entrances. Photovoltaic panels were installed on the roof, and a central kiosk relays information about energy usage.
HMFH Completes Renovations
Cambridge, MA – HMFH Architects has completed an $85 million multi-phase renovation project at the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School (CRLS) and the new $50 million Hanover High School. HMFH was commissioned to create innovative educational spaces, provide modern design aesthetics, and establish sustainable design features for both schools.