In the fall of 2024, the fences went up, Broyles field closed, and the construction of the Blake Center commenced. The completion of the Blake Center has been covered many times, but most students don’t know about the dream behind the design. From visiting college innovation centers across the country, to working with teachers right here in our classrooms, the Blake Center is equipped to meet the needs of the students.

With every project on campus, the administration aims to build connection and foster community, and this building does just that. According to Tim Shabanowitz, MS Steam Lab Director, the Goizueta Catalyst Plaza, directly outside the building, was conceived as a hub for High School and Middle School collaboration. “The Goizueta Catalyst Plaza has collaboration and community on the horizon,” he says.

The Blake Center has space for robotics, metal fabrication, broadcasting, but it was also designed to be very versatile and a workspace for every subject from physics to history. “Soon, for a lot of teachers, this will be business as usual,” says Mark Labouchere, Upper School Innovation Coordinator, “It won’t be weird for an English class to go to the wood lab for a project.”

With most buildings, compromises have to be made, and some aspects have to be changed from their original design, due to time or space constraints. However, this building didn’t have that issue. According to President Keith Evans “It pretty much fit it all,” he says. “The funny thing about some buildings, is in some cases, you have a site that demands that you build a building of a particular size, but that’s not necessarily true with Blake.”

This building has been in the making for quite some time. Our administration has been looking for a new innovation space since 2020. Originally, the administration decided to build the Upper School Innovation Lab in Hawkins Hall. However, that space can be very restricting. There wasn’t enough space to put tools, and it couldn’t host many people at once. Westminster knew a change was needed, but didn’t have donors to fund the Blake Center yet. 

“And then all of a sudden, I think it was 2023,” says Shabanowitz, “they said, we have the money, it’s gonna happen.”