Indian Mountain School | Student Center

New Campus Facility | Lakeville, Connecticut

Named for the 1,400-ft Berkshire peak to its west, Indian Mountain School is a PK–9 independent boarding school located in Lakeville, Connecticut, serving 186 students. The school’s new 8,000-sf Student Center integrates visual arts, music, and science through collaborative, cross-disciplinary, and project-based learning. The space also serves as a gathering space for boarders and an activity hub for parents.

The form of the building recalls a traditional New England barn with a sloped tin roof, exposed timber and board, and batten siding. This traditional form is made innovative by a large area of glass, angled in plan and fastened directly to the post and beam construction. In order to inspire a connection between students and the surrounding landscape, the western side of the building opens directly onto the grounds, and every classroom has a door to the outside.

The flexible interior design includes clusters of art and music classrooms that open onto a clerestory-lit common area that is used as project and maker space during the day and a student lounge in the evening. A “fab lab” hosts interdisciplinary projects in science, visual arts, music, and other academic subjects.

View at night of school from grassy hill, with long vertical windows with yellow orange light on building. Dark blue sky behind
Axon site plan
Axon site plan
View of entrance at dusk, green light coming from left side of building, and orange light coming from center annex
Nighttime view of school with floor to ceiling windows and yellow light coming from classrooms. Grass in front with walkway
Interior corridor looking at second floor ceiling, long poles in x formation with natural wood beams around
Wood beams with metal sheets in x formation
Students seated in commons with wood beams on top half of building
View from inside looking out through windows that line the wall. View has tables and chairs with rolling greenery behind
Site plan

Project Information

Time Span 2012–2013

Type New Campus Facility

Client Indian Mountain School

Size 8,000 square feet

Cost $2.8 million

Design Team David Croteau, Principal-in-Charge; Joseph Marshall, Project Manager; Chris Brown, Project Architect

Consultants Roome & Guarracino (Structural Engineer); R.W. Hall Consulting Engineers (); Lenard Engineering (Civil Engineer); Lamb Kiefer (Surveyor); LAB [3.2] Architecture (Interior Architect)

General Contractor United Construction & Engineering

Photographer Robert Benson

Videographer Raber Umphenour

Awards WoodWorks Wood in Educational Buildings Award (2015)

 

BSA Educational Facilities Design Award (2016)

Publications David Andreu, Wood Architecture Today (2018)

 

Theresa Rogers, Celebrating Excellence in Wood Architecture (2015

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Indian Mountain School

New Student Center

Named for the 1,400-ft Berkshire peak to its west, Indian Mountain School is a PK–9 independent boarding school located in Lakeville, Connecticut, serving 186 students. The school’s new 8,000-sf Student Center integrates visual arts, music, and science through collaborative, cross-disciplinary, and project-based learning. The space also serves as a gathering space for boarders and an activity hub for parents.

Interior corridor looking at second floor ceiling, long poles in x formation with natural wood beams around
Axon site plan
View from courtyard looking at building with floor to ceiling windows and a seating area on the front along the grass
Axon site plan
Students seated in commons with wood beams on top half of building
Site plan
View of exterior at sunset with faint glow coming from school, rolling grass hill, and yellow orange sunset behind
Wood beams with metal sheets in x formation
Time Span 2012–2013
Type New Campus Facility
Client Indian Mountain School
Size 8,000 square feet
Cost $2.8 million
Design Team David Croteau, Principal-in-Charge; Joseph Marshall, Project Manager; Chris Brown, Project Architect
Consultants Roome & Guarracino (Structural Engineer); R.W. Hall Consulting Engineers (); Lenard Engineering (Civil Engineer); Lamb Kiefer (Surveyor); LAB [3.2] Architecture (Interior Architect)
General Contractor United Construction & Engineering
Photographer Robert Benson
Videographer Raber Umphenour
Awards
WoodWorks Wood in Educational Buildings Award (2015)
BSA Educational Facilities Design Award (2016)