Supporting a Specialized Mission - Stanmar

Case Studies > Eagle Hill School

Supporting a Specialized Mission

The Stanmar Difference

  • Strategic partnership with owner

  • Expand program within budget

  • Clarify program needs

  • Strategize costs to meet budget

  • Incorporate brain science and health connection

  • Design for future flexibility

  • Study project options

  • Deliver project on budget/schedule

Project Overview

The Eagle Hill School (EHS) is a private boarding school that educates students with learning disabilities by providing an intimate and encouraging community that honors the individual, values learning diversity, and cultivates a global mindset. Given their mission, part of the school’s pedagogy is focused on the science of the brain and how exercise can help students with learning challenges succeed.

EHS engaged Stanmar to program, design, and build a fitness facility that includes a three-court gymnasium, multipurpose rooms, climbing walls, a jogging track, and other fitness center components. After collaborating with the school to define the program, it was clear that flexibility in the spaces was essential for the school to expand programmatic offerings in the future.

Stanmar’s solutions included astute adjacency space programming so that a storage room could be converted to squash courts should student demand grow. In the years since completion, it has been used as CrossFit space to bring in revenue, storage, and more. Stanmar also programmed the building to enable secure and safe joint use by the school and local community as a revenue-generating tool. The gymnasium has held athletic, fundraising, and dance events.

Siting the building was a challenge. The new facility is on a hilltop, requiring a design that limits how much it looms over the rest of the campus. Because one-story elements front the natatorium and three-story gymnasium, viewers perceive a building that fades into the distance when looking up at its façade.

Stanmar over-delivered program and met all budget and schedule requirements.

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The beauty of Stanmar, Inc., is their expertise in athletic and recreational buildings on both the design and construction side. Because Stanmar, Inc., has done over 75 facilities, they know the issues surrounding an athletic center that other architects wouldn’t, and we reaped the benefits of their great design and experience.

Dr. PJ McDonald

Headmaster, Eagle Hill School

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