FEATURE
CAMPUS MASTER PLAN Transformations Rooted in Our Character
In tandem with our strategic plan (see page 16), Benchmark has initiated a campus master plan that expresses a new vision for the campus and will ensure the school is positioned to support the next generation of students. We’ve partnered with the Philadelphia firm WRT, whose team of architects and planners have worked to help the school best leverage its strengths as well as devise creative, affordable adaptations and expansions. Over the course of the 2021-2022 school year, WRT met with school leadership, faculty, students, parents, and the Board of Trustees to learn about Benchmark’s current strengths and areas of need. Head of School Chris Hancock shared, “In this campus master planning work, we’ve asked critical questions about how our campus reflects and supports the mission of our school and our new strategic plan, as well as the most efficient functioning of our daily practice. It challenges us to consider where we want to take Benchmark in the future, and will ensure that our spaces can meet our grand vision.” The team at WRT developed a deep appreciation and understanding of what makes Benchmark special. WRT’s Principal, Richard King, commented, “With Benchmark, we sensed this incredible quality of home. There’s an intimacy within the school that’s very powerful and you can see it in how comfortable it is as a place, how people feel comfortable there. I think that sense of place as a community is really, really strong. It’s probably a bigger thing than any of us really realized when we started.” Richard also noted that the team listened well to the comments from the community about our natural setting, further noting that the scale of the work must suit our most important constituents: our students. “There are two different aspects of the campus as it is now that we’re trying to respond to very specifically. One is certainly the trees and the natural setting and wanting to
18 Benchmark Magazine | Fall 2022