Providence, RI – It is no surprise that a prospective student’s interest in a new school is often determined within minutes of stepping onto campus. The character of the buildings, facilities, and landscape play an important role in the first impression of a prospective students and often their parents. Projecting a sense of cleanliness, safety, academic excellence, and recreational enjoyment to students, families, and faculty are keys to those first impressions.
This philosophy can be applied to a campus of any size or type. New leadership at The Wheeler School, an independent N-12 school in Providence understood the values of a well-designed environment for student recruitment when they initiated campus-wide improvements with Pressley Associates in 2004. Starting at the School’s entrance, enhancements over the last six years have transformed a nearly 125-old campus with a functional yet tired-looking student environment into an award-winning, student-focused campus.
Creating an identifiable character to visitors and the outside community was an important initial step in the improvement to the School’s “first impression.” The campus, located on two large blocks separated by Hope Street, was visually knit together with the installation of a classic black picket fence with brick column detail that mimics gate posts historically located at the campus’ main pedestrian entrance. Expanded as part of subsequent landscape improvements, the perimeter fence now clearly defines and integrates the School perimeter to the community.
Three subsequent construction and landscape improvement projects have further defined the campus environment, creating cohesion and a sense of place for campus visitors as well as the existing School community. The School’s east campus, an area across Hope Street from the main campus, was an unremarkable space consisting of underutilized tennis courts, fencing, and walls that had reached their useful limit. Working together, Pressley Associates and the Wheeler School administration, faculty, and students initiated a thorough design process to develop the space into a more useful, attractive student-oriented space. Design elements were selected for their appropriateness and use as a standard palette of features for the entire campus. A fresh, clean, well-landscaped and well-maintained play area is now an identifiable part of the campus, and inviting to prospective students.
The Wheeler School Pelson Student Union was an important next step in the improved campus environment. Often, student unions are the center of campus activity, and the Wheeler Student Union is a vibrant example. Working with Ann Beha Architects, Pressley Associates integrated an outdoor dining terrace adjacent to a vastly improved interior dining and student recreation space and building addition. The new work presents a cohesive addition to the east campus, through the use of similar materials including brick walls with bluestone caps.
Pressley Associates has been instrumental in assisting The Wheeler School with the revitalization of their campus to entice prospective students. As a team, we have worked to develop inviting campus entrances and attractive outdoor spaces that students and faculty experience every day. The Wheeler School’s enhanced ability to impress prospective students may be the most profoundly affected by the recently completed main campus landscape improvements, which encompass over an acre of land in the heart of the campus. This was envisioned as a space completely focused on student growth, development, recreation, and learning, which also integrates four distinct functional areas into the campus fabric.
Throughout the design process, faculty and student input was integral to the division of uses, from seating and gathering spaces for older students, to playgrounds, open paved areas, and synthetic lawn to be used by younger students. Landscape features and elements introduced in the initial 2004 improvements have been integrated throughout the campus, so that today, the Wheeler School has a cohesive and beautiful character that is evident immediately. Brick and granite paving, brick and bluestone seat walls, large caliper tree plantings, and a completely updated lighting system, create a sophisticated campus landscape that is responsive to student needs yet reflects the history and character of the existing school buildings.
