In the largest charter school project to be built in the Commonwealth to date, HMFH designed an addition and renovations to two buildings, including a historic timber and masonry mill building built in 1889, to house Boston Renaissance Charter Public School’s K1-6 program.
Most of the classrooms will be placed in the 3-story mill building. The school is divided into three smaller schools: the Kinder School, which is for grades K1 and K2; the Primary School, for grades 1-3; and the Elementary School, for grades 4-5. Each of these smaller schools will be housed on a separate floor of the mill building. The warehouse building, which has high ceilings and wide column spacing, will contain large public and assembly spaces, including a gym, a cafetorium, a library, music classrooms, and dance studios. The new addition contains a new administration suite, support facilities, and some of the Kinder classrooms.
The school incorporates many green design measures, including use of natural daylighting with an automated dimming system that reduces use of artificial light when sufficient daylight is present, and will be LEED certifiable upon completion.