St. John’s Preparatory School is an all-boys Catholic day school located in Danvers, MA sited on 175 acres of land. In 2012, the school enlisted Flansburgh to develop a campus master plan that incorporated the ambitious goals of the school’s PREP 20/20 Strategic Plan that seeks to enhance student life both academically and spiritually. In response, Flansburgh designed a new 74,000-s.f. STEM Academic Building, 88,000-s.f. Wellness Center, and renovated the existing Benjamin Hall structure to accommodate a middle school program as part of the Master Plan.

At the outset of the study, the school expected to build a new middle school. Through extensive interviews with students, faculty, parents and trustees combined with an exhaustive evaluation of existing educational spaces, we suggested that Benjamin Hall, an existing 50-year-old academic building that, at the time, housed high school math and sciences, be converted to a middle school and a new high school STEM Center be constructed to serve high school students.

Existing classrooms were converted to teacher planning rooms and Team Collaborative spaces to foster cooperation between teachers and reinforce camaraderie among small teams. Academic spaces, including updated science labs to support a focus on academic skill building while a new digital commons, maker, arts, and music spaces are integrated among surrounding academic classrooms to allow students to develop unique passions and advance their individual study skills. In addition to the creation of academic, digital, and collaborative spaces.

Existing faculty offices were converted to a flexible dining commons with portable food service equipment warming the kitchen with modest food preparation capability. A reconfigured entrance lobby, accessible from pick-up and drop-off areas, has a dedicated reception area, art gallery that celebrates student work, and a parent resource area to provide parents with information about advancements in middle school education.