The Westminster Schools, Campbell Hall Renovation and Hawkins Hall Addition

Campbell Hall was constructed as one of the earliest buildings at the founding of the Westminster Schools, in the 1950s. Originally conceived as a general classroom building for the Upper School, it embodied the best practices of the times—with a double loaded corridor layout, lined with lockers, classrooms designed to be the “homeroom” of teachers, and opaque walls to ensure that teachers could properly command their charges without distraction.

Contemporary trends in education call for greater transparency in learning environments, more peer-to-peer learning opportunities, increased interdisciplinary collaboration between faculty, and the valuation of faculty-student interaction outside the classroom. The renovation of Campbell Hall delivers on these paradigm shifts—with visual transparency throughout, teachers no longer “owning” their classrooms, spaces developed outside of conventional classrooms to deliver spontaneous and productive interactions between educational stakeholders, and classrooms configured to allow for multiple and dynamic teaching modalities.

Hawkins Hall is a contemporary addition to Campbell Hall. As a new building, free from existing massing, structure, and history, the addition strives to optimize the innovations established in the Campbell renovation. Organized around a three-story atrium with a variety of social and study spaces arranged concentrically, the facility is meant to become the social heart of the northern Upper School campus, drawing community, staff, faculty, and students into the building. Central to the building’s organization is both a new café, and an experimental learning laboratory, where teachers are encouraged to experiment with different teaching methods, including project based learning and virtual reality.

Together, the renovation of Campbell Hall, and the addition of Hawkins Hall, situate the Westminster Schools to adopt new pedagogical trends, raise “out of classroom learning” to be on par with in-classroom learning, foster greater and more nuanced faculty-student interaction, and compel faculty to try new methods of teaching and scholarship.