With 560 students in grades 6–12, arranged in distinct middle and high school wings, the new Tahanto Regional Middle/High School serves the communities of Berlin and Boylston, Mass., and offers students the benefits of small-school education while also supporting full shared-use amenities. In the new school, shared public spaces, including a double-height dining commons, library, theater, music suite, and gymnasium, unite the entire school along a community “main street,” while classrooms have been divided into smaller-scale middle and high school wings, each with its own discrete entrance on either side of the main administration suite. Exterior elements including a curved wood bench, tile cladding, and an outdoor space directly off the dining commons are designed to respond gracefully to the school’s heavily forested site on the Wachusett Reservoir.
With 560 students in grades 6–12, arranged in distinct middle and high school wings, the new Tahanto Regional Middle/High School serves the communities of Berlin and Boylston, Mass., and offers students the benefits of small-school education while also supporting full shared-use amenities. In the new school, shared public spaces, including a double-height dining commons, library, theater, music suite, and gymnasium, unite the entire school along a community “main street,” while classrooms have been divided into smaller-scale middle and high school wings, each with its own discrete entrance on either side of the main administration suite. Exterior elements including a curved wood bench, tile cladding, and an outdoor space directly off the dining commons are designed to respond gracefully to the school’s heavily forested site on the Wachusett Reservoir.