Townie Pride: East Providence High School – Architecture Critic Morgan
Will Morgan, Architecture Critic
Townie Pride: East Providence High School – Architecture Critic Morgan
Where would you go to experience "the most outstanding high school project in the Northeast"? Would you have guessed East Providence? Even making allowances for the architect's rightful boast, the Townies have a lot of which to be proud. The new high school on Pawtucket Avenue is another example of how the city across the Seekonk is quietly embracing the future.
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It was only three years ago that the City of East Providence issued Requests for Qualifications from a number of architectural firms. Now the almost completed mega-structure has just opened for the school year. While the 1950 high school building is still being demolished, the school district is offering incredible facilities for its 1,600 students. Compare this accomplishment with Providence, where the school system has been under siege and under state control. The legend that East Providence is the best-run city in Rhode Island might just be true.
The 1950 building, nevertheless, deserves some nostalgia. A septuagenarian public school, now matter how well loved, has no doubt long exceeded its shelf life. Yet the steel-frame and concrete school, with its multi-branched plan spoke eloquently of the post-World War II era of possibility and of the subsequent baby boom. Designed by the respected engineering firm of Charles A. Maguire, the high school displayed a Modern European aesthetic, paying homage to International Style émigré architects such as Mies van der Rohe and Walter Gropius (Gropius designed the Peter Thacher Junior High School in Attleboro in 1948). The school's symbolic clock tower, with its nod to Scandinavian modernism, has fortunately been spared the wrecking ball.
The architects of the new high school had a serious task before them, designing and building a collaborative comprehensive educational environment for1600 students in grades 9 through 12. EPHS offers both academic and technical education, one that includes such career pathways as culinary arts, health care, radio and television, engineering, construction, and automotive technology, all in a single 300,000-square-feet structure. There is also an outdoor stadium that seats 1540 fans.
Given the scale of the commission, an actual comparison of design schemes from a number of hopeful architects might have been preferred instead of RFQs. But with the scope of this project, the school district went with experience rather than flash. Ai3 Architects, based in Wayland, Massachusetts has a solid reputation as school designers, having designed educational facilities from Hingham to Seoul. (In Rhode Island, they have worked at Nathan Bishop Middle School, Woonsocket Twin Middle Schools, and Westerly High.) East Providence's new high school impressively came in on time and under budget. (The price tag, funded by city and state, is $189 million.) And, most of all, the new facility does what it was meant to do.
We can have flights of fancy about a spectacularly bold academic campus, but the school's sensible form was decided upon in a series of meetings with students, faculty, staff, and administrators. As Principal Toby Gibbons told GoLocal, "the detailed thought from all involved in the planning is astounding." Brainstorming sessions between educators and designers went with a simple rectangular plan, instead of a complex geometric layout. Despite its 752-foot length and 211-foot width, the school's four stories are also organized vertically, with the same layout on each floor.
The long and relatively narrow configuration allows for clear sightlines down hallways and lots of natural light. The symmetrical facade highlights a welcoming central entrance, allowing a multi-stage security vestibule. Interiors are airy, with tall ceilings. Like East Providence itself, the new high school has a real, no-nonsense spirit.
Short of going to huge glass walls or broad bands of high-tech materials, it is difficult to create such a massive facade without it looking like a corporate headquarters or a giant factory. Ai3's approach was to mitigate the bulk of the building by employing rhythmic projections and insets that break up the long facades into smaller units. A cleaner solution might have relied on fewer materials, yet the predominance of brick is a tribute to earlier high schools–a more traditionally appropriate ethos.
James Jordan, partner in charge of the project and owner of Ai3 Architects, noted that the entire endeavor was one of cooperation and teamwork throughout. This symbol of optimism and positivity "is a true boost of adrenaline to all who enter," declares Principal Gibbons. "The faculty, staff, and most importantly the students deserve this building and it makes coming to it a true joy."
