Nichols School is a leader in education in Western New York, setting the standard for more than 120 years. Throughout the school’s history,
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our student body, our faculty, our campus and our curriculum have all evolved to keep Nichols at the forefront of independent education. To meet the changing needs of our students and curriculum, we
Campus Master Plan
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must update and adapt our campus, creating spaces for students to innovate, for our teachers to inspire, and our community to gather. This Master Plan does just that, identifying key areas where physical improvements will strengthen Nichols while
maintaining
our
campus’
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historic character and legacy. The Master Plan specifies seven phases for improvement. Each phase
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will improve on Nichols’ ability to prepare students for college and a changing world. They will strengthen our community, celebrate our achievements, and prepare students for a successful future. To create this plan, we worked with Flansburgh Architects who guided a year-long process with administrators, faculty, staff, parents, trustees and supporters to evaluate current conditions, identify our existing and future needs, and develop solutions to meet those needs. The overarching vision of the campus represented in this plan updates our historic core of buildings, adds new facilities to meet future needs, all while carefully considering ways to strengthen the personal relationships central to our work.
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Phase 3: Innovation Center Phase 4: Mitchell and Albright Hall Renovations
Phase 1:
More and more, students are makers and doers. They do not sit passively in classes while teachers lecture. Instead students take control of their own education with teachers guiding them as they explore individual interests in the context of a curricular framework. Nichols has embraced this new model of student-centered, inquiry-based learning. A new Innovation Center will reflect this pedagogical shift, creating collaborative spaces to integrate humanities, arts, science and technology learning. It will also house a new, modern school library and maker space. The Innovation Center will better support existing technology programs like Robotics and Engineering, fostering their continued growth. Because so much learning at Nichols happens outside the classroom, the Innovation Center will also include new meeting rooms and dedicated collaborative spaces for students.
Dining Hall Addition Every day, the Rand Dining Hall serves more than 600 students, faculty and staff. With a maximum capacity of only 210 we are constrained in the existing space. Increasing the dining hall capacity to 366 by expanding into the courtyard between the Dining Hall and Flickinger Performing Arts Center will allow greater schedule flexibility, allow better space utilization elsewhere on campus, and provide an improved event and gathering space for the school.
The historic buildings that anchor our campus will remain vibrant centers of learning. Improvements to both buildings will improve accessibility and see existing classrooms combined into flexible spaces that adapt to different teaching and learning methods.
Phase 5: Middle School Renovation/Addition Renovations to the middle school will increase and improve classroom space, improve building accessibility, and transform existing underutilized space into a middle school innovation center. Together, these improvements will strengthen the team teaching model by differentiating grade spaces.
Phase 6: Performing Arts Addition
Phase 2: Rink Expansion and Renovation The Dann Rink is a vital part of Nichols campus, housing athletics offices and locker rooms, and is a destination for nearly half a million visitors to our campus each year. However, the rink is showing its age with significant maintenance needs. Building a new concourse on the east side of the rink will address accessibility concerns, provide additional locker rooms, and improve the faรงade of the building to integrate architecturally with the rest of the campus. Modernizing the facility will help it remain competitive for rentals as new rinks have opened in recent years.
The performing arts programs at Nichols are hugely successful, and need additional space to meet strong student demand. Upgrades to the FPAC will expand the available space by approximately 50%, creating larger spaces for the orchestra, chorus and drama programs including new practice rooms. It will also improve the character of those spaces with more natural light, which is demonstrated to improve learning.
Phase 7: Dann Rink Wellness Center Additional improvements to Dann Rink would see the development of a wellness facility with squash courts, added locker rooms for field sports, a fitness room and a media viewing room. These improvements will also create an improved viewing area for hockey rentals, improving the visitor experience.