The Westminster Schools, Barge Commons

Atlanta, Georgia

Firm

Ennead Architects

Client

The Westminster Schools

Area

48,770 sq.ft.

Total Cost

$22,000,000

Completion Date

06/2021

Design Team
Molly McGowan (Management Partner); Tomas Rossant (Design Partner); Todd Van Varick (Project Architect); Greg Clawson (Project Architect); Minh Tran (Project Manager); Billy Erhard (Project Designer); Gary Anderson, Edward Chang, Luccas Dias, Eileen Dirks, Janice Leong, Mariel Mora Llorens, David Monnar, Nikita Payusov, Karl Pops, Mat Strack, Trevor Hollyn Taub, Ursula Trost (Team Members)

Situated at the main entrance to Westminster School’s Upper School Campus, Barge Commons acts as a gateway to the historic grounds and mitigates a 14-foot grade change between the entrance road and the main campus quadrangle. The building is designed as a convening facility, a place that local, national, and global not-for-profit organizations are welcomed to use as a conference center in exchange for providing leadership seminars and lectures to the student body. The project houses six general purpose classrooms so that classes can be held synchronously with conferencing events, thus generating spontaneous and productive collisions between students and established public-interest thought-leaders.

Two large-scale gathering areas, one at the lower level, and one at the level of the main quadrangle, act as hubs to the building. These spaces are designed to be flexible and constantly changing to support varied activities and to foster intellectual exchange within the building. The facility is complemented by additional “outwardly facing” programs that create an ecosystem of mutual purpose and illustrate the project’s overarching mission: to put leadership on display and present novel and engaging educational opportunities to Westminster’s students.

Additional Information

Associated Firm

BDR Partners—Anna Forgey, Ace Barghi; JE Dunn Construction (Construction Manager); Andropogon Associates (Landscape Architect); Uzun+Case LLC (Structural Engineer); The Integral Group LLC (MPE/FP); Eberly & Associates Inc. (Civil Engineer); Conspectus Inc. (Specifications); Jensen Hughes Inc. (Fire/Life Safety); Sky Design Graphics (Signage Designer); Waveguide LLC (AV/IT); Threshold Acoustics (Acoustics); KAIZEN Foodservice Planning & Design Inc. (Food Service); GeoHydro (Geotechnical Engineer)