In 2022, OL+ returned to Tenacre Country Day School to update a campus Master Plan first developed more than two decades earlier. The school did not begin the process with a specific building or site in mind. Immersion came first.
Through conversations with faculty, families, students, and school leadership, we learned how the campus supported daily life and where it fell short. The community wanted stronger connections across grades, more room for hands-on and interdisciplinary learning, clearer circulation, and better use of the school’s outdoor setting. The historic orchard surfaced repeatedly as both a cherished tradition and an underused part of the learning environment.
Those themes guided a series of design charrettes. As the community explored possibilities, the idea of a Design and Technology Center began to take shape. Its location beside the orchard emerged through the same process, creating an opportunity to connect academic programs with the landscape while improving movement through the campus.
The proposed Design Center was conceived as a modern barn with flexible spaces for making, technology, and collaborative learning. Both the program and its place on campus were discoveries of the Master Plan, developed through listening, testing, and design.
The work continues a planning relationship that began in 2000, when the Master Plan provided for a new library, computer lab, and gymnasium without overwhelming Tenacre’s manageable scale. A 2013 study followed with a performance space, dining and kitchen facilities, a secondary entrance to the main building, and the conversion of a standalone classroom into a STEM Center. Across each phase, planning has helped Tenacre grow in ways that remain true to its close-knit campus.
