Shawmut Construction tops off 36,000 s/f community and performance center

Woodman Family Community and Performance Center - Providence, RI

Providence, RI Members of the Moses Brown School community joined together with the Shawmut Design and Construction project team for a “topping off” ceremony held on March 2. The final beams were placed on the new 36,000 s/f Woodman Family Community and Performance Center, which is connected to the Walter Jones Library at the center of Moses Brown’s 33-acre campus located in Providence, Rhode Island.

Designed by Durkee, Brown, Viveiros & Werenfels Architects, the multi-use facility will feature a main hall capable of holding 540 people for musical theater performances, exhibitions, workshops and many other school and community activities. The center will also include a café, circulation space, classrooms, theater support space, and an outdoor gathering space. It will also house the campus’ new central heating plant in the basement.

“It was a great pleasure to share in the topping off ceremony with students, faculty and the entire Moses Brown community,” said Ron Simoneau, vice president of Shawmut Design and Construction. “This marks a major milestone for the project as we continue our construction on this state-of-the-art learning and gathering facility.”

A complex renovation to the existing Walter Jones Library is included in the scope of the project which will add a learning and resource center and an archive storage and research facility to house 230 years’ worth of artifacts, books, documents and photos collected by the school.

Shawmut Design and Construction broke ground on the project in June of 2015, has been able to work in the heart of an occupied campus and managed to install foundations, structural steel and concrete slabs through the challenging winter months. It is scheduled to be completed this fall.