Dana Hall School
Athletic, Health, and Wellness Center: Detailed Program Document, FF&E, and Design and Construction Support
In the
summer of 2002, Dana Hall School, a 450-student
independent boarding and day school for girls
in grades 6-12, contracted Brailsford &
Dunlavey — along with Shepley, Bulfinch,
Richardson, and Abbott — to perform a
comprehensive programming study and
architectural design for the school's proposed
Athletic, Health, and Wellness Center. This
effort was initiated by the Board of Trustees
and outlined in the school's Strategic Plan of
June 2002. A number of goals within the
Strategic Plan led to a recommendation that
athletics and other social/recreation space be
located in such a way as to encourage a healthy
balance in the students' lives, support strong
boarding/day relationships, and deepen faculty
and student commitment to, and increased
involvement in, boarding/day activities. The
school's material goal for the project was to
upgrade the indoor and outdoor athletic
facilities in conjunction with improvements to
the overall athletic and physical education
curriculum that were already underway.
Dana Hall's existing athletic facility, Dorothy Dunning Mudd Gymnasium, was designed in 1968 for the lower enrollment level and more limited team offerings of that time. More than three decades later, Mudd Gymnasium could not adequately accommodate the 450-student population. The new project provides improved space for physical education and competitive interscholastic and lifelong wellness activities, as well as a new home for the health center. The architectural program resulting from the study called for the demolition of Mudd Gymnasium, approximately 120,000 gross square feet of new construction, and outdoor athletic facility improvements to be implemented over time. The comprehensive project budget was approximately $31 million.
B&D's specific responsibilities included an evaluation of existing facilities, focus group interviews, the development of building concept options, site analysis, detailed programming, and design reviews. B&D continued to serve as athletics consultant through design and construction. The facility was dedicated the Shipley Center on October 21, 2005 and has been a successful, active part of the Dana Hall community ever since. And in 2006, this project was awarded the "Facility of Merit" Award by Athletic Business magazine.