Blake Hall
Northfield Mount Hermon School, Gill, MA
(Project of Architectural Resources Cambridge)

Blake Hall is a student center and classroom building at the Northfield Mount Hermon School. Its construction entailed the renovation of Camp Hall, a Victorian Brick building to which it is attached, as well as the creation of 13,000 s.f. of new space. The addition responds to the massing, proportions, materials and detailing of the original building. Its image and location emphasize its vital role in the School's culture. The site is central on campus, on the corner of the School green. Blake Hall features a tower that addresses the green, announcing this as a building of significance.

The building program is allocated so that student center functions are located on the first floor and classroom functions are on the second floor. Vertical circulation allows students going to class to bypass the Student Center, so they can avoid recreational distractions; both the Student Center and classrooms function autonomously.

The ground floor contains a large common space, café, bookstore, game room, student activity room, bank, and offices. The activity room opens onto a landscaped plaza, framed by outdoor stairs that lead up to the classroom level. Five classrooms, a seminar room, and a double-height faculty room on the second level feature tall ceilings and magnificent views of the campus, the Connecticut River Valley, and the hills beyond.

Blake Hall draws on elements of Camp Hall, but features large windows and tall spaces that give the new addition a lighter, more contemporary feeling. The complex as a whole provides a location for two different, important aspects of student life: it allows for the harmonious coexistence of both academic and recreational activities in a single, connected structure.

Photograph by Nick Wheeler