News and Events : News 04-05

Press Release

Northfield Mount Hermon Selects Architect for New Arts Center

February 21, 2005

NORTHFIELD, Mass.—Plans for a cutting-edge performing arts center are well underway at Northfield Mount Hermon School. The renowned Boston architectural firm CBT/Childs Bertman Tseckares has been selected to design the building, which will cost approximately $20 million and is targeted for completion in fall 2007.

The center will house music, performing, and studio arts, marking the first time these disciplines have been brought together under one roof at NMH. To be sited on the eastern edge of campus, the arts center is a highly significant building project for NMH, which is transitioning from a two-campus school to one campus in September 2005.

CBT is renowned for its design work for prep schools, colleges, and universities. Its academic clients range from Phillips Academy to Penn State to Harvard. CBT has designed arts centers for Tufts, MIT, Kimball Union, and Saint Mark’s School, among others. The firm is known for its commitment to sustainable design and its knack for designs that integrate with existing buildings, yet claim their own identities.

CBT is currently beginning the concept design for the arts center. The schematic design should be complete by June 2005, and groundbreaking will take place in spring 2006. NMH arts faculty, students, trustees, and other school members will participate in the planning.

Robert Brown, principal architect for the project, says, “What excites me most about this project is the opportunity within a single building to set the direction for the new campus.”

Another CBT architect involved in the project is Sherif Anis, a 1985 graduate of NMH. “I am passionate about the school’s decision to move into the future, and to express that through architecture is exhilarating,” he says. “Having spent four years at NMH, I understand the physical, cultural, and spiritual environment of the school. Innovation, tradition, and diversity are key qualities that definite the school and should be guiding principals that the architecture captures.”
 

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