Hillside Farm School
Marlborough, Massachusetts
In progress 2022
Hillside School is at an exciting time in its trajectory, expanding its programming to include a younger cohort and transitioning to a coed program. The project includes a new anchoring structure on the site of an old barn that was lost to fire in 2021.
The project challenge was to provide an iconic building that was referential to the agrarian history of the site, creating a unique identity for the lower campus and disrupting the conventional concept of lower school education.
The working farm of 150 acres is an important part of the curriculum and day-to-day activity of the children. The new building will be home to kindergarten through grade three students. It includes a kitchen and multi-purpose space to support both classroom and farm-based learning. The building sits atop a grassy knoll, accessed from a meandering pathway that celebrates the fields and farm animals as part of the entry sequence.
With a rare combination of learning and agriculture, the project is an important precedent for a forward looking typology that brings the health of our soil and food security to the early education of our future leaders.