Shawmut Design completes $25.4 million Moses Brown School project

Shawmut-Moses-300x200.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="200" /> Woodman Community and Performance Center at the Moses Brown School - Providence, RI

Providence, RI The Moses Brown School community debuted its transformative 36,000 s/f Woodman Family Community and Performance Center, which is connected to the Walter Jones Library at the center of the school’s 33-acre campus. Shawmut Design and Construction completed the project in 18 months, after first breaking ground in June of 2015. In total the project cost was $25.4 million. Dean Woodman, an alum, was responsible for an $8 million donation, the largest in the school’s 233-year history.

Designed by Durkee, Brown, Viveiros & Werenfels Architects, the multi-use facility features a main hall capable of holding 540 people for musical theater performances, exhibitions, workshops, and many other school and community activities. The center also includes 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.

“We truly enjoyed working with Moses Brown on a complex and innovative new gathering space,” said Ron Simoneau, vice president of Shawmut Design and Construction. “We agree the facility will be transformative for Moses Brown’s campus and Providence community.”

The community center is defined by a NIVOflex platform system and telescoping seating, which provides the school with ultimate flexibility for event hosting as a result. The telescoping seating can be retracted and the NIVOflex flooring be made level with the rest of the floor to provide a larger flat floor for functions. The NIVOflex can also be fully recessed for an orchestra pit, or event at multiple levels to provide additional seating.

“It is our hope that the Woodman Center will be utilized by a variety of community organizations,” said Moses Brown head of school Matt Glendinning. “We see this as part of our role as a member of the Providence community, to promote the intellectual, artistic, and civic vitality that has always been a strength at our school.” 

The existing Walter Jones Library was also part of the recent renovation, adding 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.

The building is also designed with many green elements including  low-flow plumbing fixtures, LED lighting, high-efficiency hot water heaters and boilers, solar shades, daylight harvesting systems, enhanced lighting controls, stormwater runoff mitigation (bio swale), infrastructure for future solar panels, and envelope performance that goes above and beyond code requirements.