SBC @ State of the Town on Monday Night!
Register for State of the Town Meeting sessions at https://www.lincolntown.org/1299/2021-State-of-The-Town
Register for State of the Town Meeting sessions at https://www.lincolntown.org/1299/2021-State-of-The-Town
Thank you to Mathias, Nina, Camille, Lucy, Eliana, Cadence, Montana, and Samantha for sharing their observations about the renovated Middle School!
The School Building Committee met last Wednesday. Click here to see the slides from the meeting.
Join us at the State of the Town Meeting on Monday, November 1st to get an update on the project!
Register at www.lincolntown.org.
The SBC will meet virtually on Wednesday, October 13th at 7:00pm. Meeting and Zoom details can be found here. Check out the new October photo gallery here.
SAVE THE DATES: STATE OF THE TOWN (VIRTUAL) MEETINGS
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 1st, 7:00pm – 9:00pm
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 2nd, 7:00pm – 9:00pm
Learn more and register for the meetings on the Town website!
Honoring Our History…Building Our Future. This statement has been at the head of every blog post since 2017, but how does it really relate to the project? Since the beginning of the project, the School Building Committee (SBC) has collaborated with about a dozen town boards and departments, and this work has helped to shape a project that serves our educational goals and advances the town’s commitment to sustainability, while reflecting the history of the building and the campus.
One of the SBC’s partners throughout the process has been the Lincoln Historical Commission (LHC). The LHC is the town board that administers Lincoln’s “Demolition Delay Bylaw” (article XXI of the town’s bylaws) which requires every building project that includes demolition to meet with the LHC to determine 1) whether the structure has historical, architectural, or cultural significance; and if so, 2) whether the structure is “preferably preserved.” The LHC worked with the SBC to understand the architectural significance of the Lincoln School and to think about how to incorporate that history into the renovation.
To mark the transition from the first phase of the project to the second, we invited Andrew Glass, chair of the LHC, to write about the ways the renovated building pays tribute to its innovative history while creating a learning environment that will serve our students for decades to come.
The Lincoln School: Smith Building and Brook Building Complexes
Lincoln residents and architects Lawrence B. Anderson (1906-1994) and Henry B. Hoover (1902-1989) made significant contributions to Modern architecture in Lincoln. Dean of the MIT School of Architecture and Urban Planning, Anderson, with his firm Anderson & Beckwith, designed several buildings for the Lincoln School campus, including the Smith complex from 1947 through the early 1950s and the Hartwell building in 1957. Hoover designed more than three dozen Modern houses and municipal buildings in Lincoln, including, in 1937, Lincoln’s first Modern house. With his firm Hoover & Hill, Hoover also designed several buildings for the Lincoln School campus, including the three Hartwell pods between 1959 and 1964 and the Brooks complex between 1963 and 1964.
The oldest part of the Lincoln School, the Smith Building complex was one of the earliest school buildings in the nation to incorporate Modern design principles. Architectural Forum recognized the innovative qualities of the complex in an August 1950 article, which can be found here. As noted by the Architectural Forum, these qualities include:
Hoover’s Brooks Building complex built on these Modern design principles. In creating the auditorium, he used innovative acoustical “clouds” to help direct sound to the back of the theater. Hoover was a master of integrating the landscape into his designs, which is reflected in the close connection of each classroom to the exterior and in the creation of a courtyard in the Brooks Building complex.
For the current project, architectural firms SMMA and EwingCole are restoring much of the Smith Building complex and all of the Brooks Building complex, working within the Modern design principles developed by Anderson and Hoover.
The LHC appreciates SMMA’s and EwingCole’s sensitive renovation of the Smith and Brooks buildings and the creative incorporation of Modern design principles into the revitalization project. – Andrew Glass
This week’s SBC meeting is being held on Tuesday, September 14th at 7:00pm via Zoom. Agenda and link can be found here.
Get ready for photos! On August 12th, SBC members were treated to a tour of the renovated Middle School. Building inspections were completed earlier in the week and faculty will be able to move into their classrooms starting on Monday, August 16th. The map below shows the tour route, and there are photos below that correspond to the numbered circles. More photos can be found in the August gallery. Slide deck from the August 11th SBC meeting can be found here.
Stop #1: Dining Commons
Stop #2: Kitchen
Stop #3: 5th Grade Hub Space
Stop #4: 7th Grade Neighborhood
Stop #5: 6th Grade Neighborhood
Stop #6: Auditorium
Stop #7: Connection between Auditorium and Reed Gym
Stop #8: Reed Gym
The SBC will meet virtually on Wednesday, August 11th at 7:00pm. Agenda and Zoom information can be found here. The new August photo gallery is here.
Why the demolition? The oldest section of the building was demolished to prepare for the construction of the new 3rd grade wing, Learning Commons, and Media Center. The classrooms in the left of the photo will be renovated. The image below shows the floor plan of this section of the building.
Construction Site Safety: When you visit the campus, you’ll see that the construction site is shifting. At the moment the entire school and both parking lots are work zones.
Project Update: A lot of work is happening simultaneously! A few highlights:
The project update presented at Wednesday’s meeting can be found here. Next meeting is on Wednesday, August 11th @ 7:00pm via Zoom.
The SBC meets on Wednesday, July 14th at 7:00pm via Zoom. For the agenda and meeting information, visit the LPS website.
The new July photo gallery is here!
Message from the Superintendent:
Dear Lincoln Community,
Phase I of the Lincoln School building project is nearing completion! In August we will open the grade 5-8 portion of the renovated building and prepare for our students and staff to begin school in their new spaces on September 1, 2021.
Please be aware of the changes occurring on the campus as we move into Phase II of the building project. Through the summer, Brooks and Smith parking lots will not be available to the public. As Consigli, our construction team, moves their operations from the middle school end of the building to the elementary end of the building there will be a gradual transition of the construction site to the elementary portion of the building and their site will set up in the Smith parking lot.
The Smith parking lot will be fenced off as of July 6, 2021 and pedestrian access to the fields and Pollinator Garden beyond the Smith parking lot will not be available until the completion of the project in fall 2022. Pedestrian access to the tennis courts will be available.
Pedestrian access to the Codman pool is through the walking path behind Pod B. Handicap parking is available in the Brooks lot. Parking for the Codman pool is in the temporary modular building and Hartwell parking lots. Please be aware that Lincoln Parks & Recreation camp and school programs are in progress and parking is extremely limited. We encourage car pooling, walking, and bicycling.
Thank you for your patience and understanding,
Becky McFall, Superintendent
Although about 75% of the school project is renovation work, there are a couple of parts that are all-new construction. One is the new connector between the Auditorium and the Reed Gym (image above). The other will be the construction of the new Learning Commons and central entrance (click here to see a rendering). As the first phase of the project winds down, the second phase begins. This week, after school is finished for the year, the original 1948 portion of the school will be demolished to make way for the new section of the building (see the area below circled in red).
Other notable items: