Springside Chestnut Hill Academy Master Plan


Springside Chestnut Hill Academy Master Plan

education, campus master plan, independent school
SCALE
62 acres
Location
Philadelphia, PA

Springside Chestnut Hill Academy (SCH) was created through a merger of the all-girls Springside School and the all-boys Chestnut Hill Academy. Located on adjacent campuses, both schools had developed unique cultures and campus identities over their 100 years of existence. Successful throughout a highly competitive selection process, WRT was hired to develop a master plan for the newly merged schools.

WRT facilitated a series of focus group sessions with trustees, administrators, faculty groups, alumni, and students, aimed at identifying both the physical and cultural challenges needing to be addressed. In the sessions with teaching staff, additional emphasis was placed on how design thinking and teaching approaches would change the character of traditional learning spaces. 

SCH outdoor play
SCH desk visual connection
SCH rec space

Concurrent with these efforts, the WRT team prepared an inventory of space uses and utilization on both campuses, identified duplications, and began to evaluate the long-term viability and flexibility of older buildings to accommodate potential physical changes, and assessed site related issues. 

The master plan knits the two campuses together through the redevelopment of the shared outdoor recreational facilities that existed between them.  Fields were shifted/re-graded and support facilities added in ways that simultaneously improve usability while creating new visual connections and inviting pedestrian paths between the two academic campuses.  

SCH walkway