Student Commons at Bristol County Agricultural High School

The project is an expansion and renovation of the Bristol County Agricultural High School allowing the school to increase student population from 450 to 640 students. The project required strategic new construction, additions, and renovations to create more cohesion among academic and vocational studies on campus and provide new state-of-the-art labs and specialized learning spaces.

The Student Commons is a two-story mass timber building with a combination of glued-laminated timber (GLT) beams and columns, wood stud shear/bearing walls, and wood I-joists as the primary structural framing components. The heart of the campus, the Student Commons provides students with a space to work, eat, study and socialize. Home to a double-height dining area, media center, media commons, small group study room and a roof terrace overlooking the working farm on campus, the Student Commons units Bristol Aggie programs in a single shared space and serves as a hub for student activity. The glue-laminated timber structure of the building is exposed to connect students to the local ecology and educate them on low-carbon alternatives to typical construction methods.