Lissa Petter

A $10 million donation from David Koch '58 has prompted Deerfield Academy to accelerate the process of replacing the Helen Childs Boyden science Center that was built in 1975.

Plans for a new math and science center have been formulating for roughly two years for numerous reasons. 'We've had a rising interest in levels of science that are more advanced," Dean of Faculty Richard Bonanno cited as one of the reasons necessitating the building. Deerfield's use of classrooms is also far above the independent school standard of eighty percent. Even with the seven math classrooms upstairs in the Main school Building being used every peniod of the day, there are three math classes that are held in the science center. The goal of building more classrooms is to reduce classroom use to standard. By adding classrooms in a new building, there would be a ripple effect throughout he campus, allowing rooms a chance to be cleaned.

"The historical context which you have to understand is that we've lost about a half a dozen classrooms over the years. Over the years what's happened is we've made other choices [to change rooms from classrooms to offices]. We're building ten [new classrooms], so we'll be up four or five from about ten years ago," said Mr. Bonanno.

Additions to the current building, like the chemistry labs with updated air filtration systems, have also signaled its inadequacy. Other schools that built science centers in the late 1960s and early 1970s are noticing similar problems. Many schools have either refurbished or replaced their science centers, including Taft in 1998 and Hotchkiss and Lawrenceville in 1999. Construction is currently underway at Exeter and about to start at Andover.

Highlights of the current plans for the new building include an auditorium with table and stadium seating for 250 people, a seventy-five seat interactive teleconferencing center with high-speed connections to NASA's Hubbell Telescope, and an outdoor terrace on the second floor, which could be used for outdoor functions like dances. "Our hope is to create areas within the building where kids would feel comfortable hanging out," said Mr. Bonanno. The building will have ten math classrooms, nine large labs specialized for different classes, an arboretum, and areas to display student work. The three floors will be united in the middle of the building, where a common area of the basement will stretch to the ceiling of the second floor. "It's a very exciting prospect for Deerfield. We've spent a lot of time planning it. I don't know that there's ever been a better planned building," said Headmaster Eric Widmer.

David Childs '59 will be the architect for the building. Currently working as the architect for the new Penn Station, he also designed the Koch Pool in 1995 and both John Louis and Louis Marx dormitories in 1998. Mr. Widmer is pleased to have one of the leading architects in the country for the project. He said of their conversation, "When I asked him if he would kindly be our architect, he agreed immediately, saying that this was his way of giving back to Deerfield."

At the very earliest, construction would begin during the summer of 2002. During the interim period, classes that would normally be held in the science center will be held in modular units on the field behind John Louis for two years.

However, there are still many barriers to be overcome; the $10 million donation constitutes only a third of the predicted cost, and the plans are still far from finalized. "You have to get to a certain point in the planning to really know how much the building will actually cost. Often it is also necessary to raise money for the ongoing operation of the building as well, so I predict there is a minimum of two years needed to raise the funds for the project," said David Pond, the Assistant Headmaster for Alumni and Development.