Framing our Future “The Lizzie” Takes Shape

Construction of the Lizzie and Jonathan Tisch Center for Innovation and Active Citizenship continued at a steady pace through the winter and spring terms. By January, the outline of the 24,000-square-foot building, including the rooflines of Pavilions A, B, and C, were framed in structural steel, giving definition to its size and scope. By February, workers were installing the high-strength engineered timber ceiling beams above the second floor classrooms and labs. In March, the framing and waterproofing of the exterior walls was in progress.

Matt Olshefski, Project Superintendent for O&G Industries, led a tour of the building interior on March 23 for Head of School Peter Becker, Incoming Head of School

Emily Raudenbush Gum, and Trustee Emeritus

Jonathan Tisch ’72, who with his wife, Lizzie, made a historic, $25 million gift to the school in support of the project. On their tour, they could see the interior walls of labs and classrooms taking shape. “We just have to put in the outlets and plumbing,” Olshefski said, noting that by late March, workers were already putting up drywall in some areas.

Entering Pavilion C from the doorway that faces Bourne, one can see from one end of the building to the other via the open, central corridor that connects all three pavilions. There will be six math classrooms in all, three on the first floor of Pavillions B and C, and three on the second floor. All overlook Brinsmade Terrace. Olshefski noted where the new Entrepreneurship Center will be located, on the lower level of Pavilion A, adjacent to the two-story glass atrium, and three workshops in Pavillion B that will comprise the new innovation space for courses in engineering and technology.

Standing on the lower level of Pavilion A, Olshefski explained that the two-story community space, which overlooks the Quad and Brinsmade Terrace, will be utilized for events and student activities, with partitions that open to a terrace. The interior of the community space will feature seating made possible through a donation from Dick Tager ’56 and crafted by a Connecticut company, City Bench, using wood cured from trees on the site of the Thomas S. Perakos Arts and Community Center. There will be a “focal wall,” where students will soon be able to view a digital dashboard with information about the geothermal system that will heat and cool The Lizzie. That system will rely on a mile of piping that was installed hundreds of feet below ground last summer.

The sustainability features in the new building were funded in part by the late Gretchen Farmer P’05, a member of the Board of Trustees, past parent, and loyal supporter of the school. In addition to solar panels, those features include the geothermal wells for heating and cooling, triple-glazed glass windows to maximize energy efficiency and offer better insulation, and a highly efficient and highly insulated building envelope that will minimize the loss of conditioning between the inside and outside in all seasons.

The sustainability features in the new building were funded in part by the late Gretchen Farmer P’05, a member of the Board of Trustees, past parent, and loyal supporter of the school, who passed away January 1. In addition to solar panels, those features include the geothermal wells for heating and cooling, triple-glazed glass windows to maximize energy efficiency and offer better insulation, and a highly efficient and highly insulated building envelope that will minimize the loss of conditioning between the inside and outside in all seasons, according to Sasaki, the Boston-based architectural firm that designed the project.

Olshefski anticipated that work would be wrapping up in May on the water, gas, and electrical systems. Glass was expected to be installed in June, and in July, the floors will be sealed. The building will have four labs, two on the first floor of Pavilion C for general science and physics, and two on the second floor, for biology and chemistry. All will be furnished in a manner very similar to the architectural renderings. The exposed wood ceiling beams on the second floor will take on a natural patina as they age in place, and are intended to acknowledge Frederick Gunn’s love of the natural world, and give the building a sense of place.

Students who signed one of the steel beams in December will be able to see it if they peek inside the mechanical room on the second floor. Solar panels will be installed on the roof toward the end of the project, and by fall, work should be complete on the terrace outside the atrium, with a seating wall and gas fireplace adjacent to the Quad.

“This is going to be incredible. It’s going to be a beautiful building,” Olshefski said, standing in what will be the new home of the Center for Citizenship and Just Democracy on the second floor of Pavilion A, next to a faculty room and collaboration space, made possible through a donation from Board Secretary Beth W. Glynn. In the Center for Citizenship and Just Democracy, students will participate in civic-minded courses such as Citizen Gunn and the Declaration, based on the values and ideals of our school founder. It seems fitting then that the space overlooks the Schoolhouse and Gunn House, the site of the Old Gunnery, where Frederick and Abigail started their school 173 years ago.

“This transformational project really embodies the values and vision of Mr. and Mrs. Gunn,” Head of School Peter Becker said at the groundbreaking in June 2022. “They had a home, right over there, where Gunn dorm exists today. In many ways, the Lizzie and Jonathan Tisch Center for Innovation and Active Citizenship is the 21st century iteration, the manifestation of Mr. and Mrs. Gunn’s original home school.”