Thayer Academy and Eck MacNeely Architects have always maintained a close relationship, so it was no surprise when Thayer would ask EMA to develop an addendum to their 2015 master plan. This master plan update would seek to record five main points:
Eck MacNeely would work with a committee of Thayer Academy staff and trustees to address these points and develop suggestions for the future of the campus.
A review of Thayer’s technology-centered offerings would be undertaken to determine if they should be expanded or updated to meet the changing trends in that sector of education. This would take into account course content, staffing, updates to classrooms and equipment, as well as classroom locations and visibility.
A study involving traffic and parking professionals, along with students and staff, would be undertaken to identify options for expansion of parking options and access, and improvement of traffic circulation. This plan can be seen in the slides shown below.
Thayer would look into new usage opportunities for the current Operations Center and Southworth Library spaces through consolidation or expansion.
An audit of Thayer’s current storage usage would be done under the mandate of removing storage containers from campus without constructing new storage facilities. An outside consultant would be hired to help facilitate this process. The results of this audit can be seen on the fourth slide below.
In addition to these new suggestions, the committee also reflected upon previous principles from the original 2009 master plan that still remain relevant today: