When students entered the Westminster Campus for the first time this year, they could not have expected the gravel construction parking lot on Broyles Field, the towering fences blocking off every pathway, or the bulldozers piling dirt in every direction. But what is it all for?
Construction Plan:
Westminster’s 2024-25-year leading change, the construction of Blake Center and the quad, aims to make the school universally accessible, enhance connections, and create spaces for exploration and growth.
Ongoing construction consists of two parts: the construction of Blake Center and the creation of a new quad. In a press release, Westminster President Keith Evans explained the project’s aims to encourage innovation and wonder. “It will be a powerful catalyst for encouraging the creativity and curiosity of generations of Wildcats, ” he said. Evans hopes construction will create a new landmark on Westminster’s campus that welcomes everyone and offers opportunities.
Blake Center Preview:
Evans explained in an interview that the primary goal of the new Blake Center is to provide dedicated space for Westminster’s innovation programs. “The Blake Center collects a bunch of new and innovative things that we’ve been doing in borrowed space, and gives those things space and collects it together in one building,” he said.
Vice President of Finance and Operations Toni Boyd says the new building, primarily dedicated to Upper School programs, will create spaces for WCAT, Robotics, and art. The bottom floor will house robotics, engineering, and 3D art, featuring a maker space and nine labs, two of which are designed for wood and machines. “Every [lab] on the bottom floor has a garage door so you can work outside,” she says. The second floor has WCAT’s new Studio W and computer science and digital art classrooms. The third floor has visual arts labs and a patio. Middle School’s Steam Director Tim Shabanowitz says the Blake Center will also feature a ceramic shop, welding area, and carpentry equipment.
Middle School Access and Collaboration:
Head of Middle School Leslie Ann Little says that although the building is primarily for Upper School, the Middle School can still collaborate. “It will be an Upper School building, but they’ll have giant garage doors facing our lab, so they plan to share equipment. I do know that the ILab will continue to collaborate with the new lab on ways that we can build bridges.”
According to Boyd, Blake Center aims for Middle Schoolers to keep growing beyond the Middle School. “[There] will be more variety [of Middle School equipment] once you get to Upper School so you can continue to experiment.” However, she says details on Middle School students’ access to Blake Center are to be determined. “[Giving the Middle School access] is the goal. [Regarding] the scheduling of it, that will be [for] Ms. Little and Ms. Small in the upper school [to work out]. The academic coordinators will decide how it’s used.”
Middle School ILab Manager Sarah Mason looks forward to the collaboration between the labs. “I’m most excited about [easy collaboration with the Upper School]. My hope is that we share information and equipment. Proximity [will] allow collaboration we didn’t have before, [which] is what I am most excited about. Really for us as teachers, but also for our students too.”
Blake Center Innovation Spaces:
Shabanowitz hopes that Middle School Robotics can expand when Upper School Robotics moves to Blake Center. “The robo den for Upper School [is under the Middle School ILab]. They need space,” he says. “I hope we could eventually move [there] so we could roll between the two levels. They probably have other plans, but it makes sense to grow this way. Maybe we have a [fireman’s] pole.”
Evans pictures the new Robotics space as a place where students can see the robotics team’s hard work. “From the Pressly side of the building, you’ll walk in and look down onto the robotics floor. It’d almost be like a gallery, and you’ll see the robotics students working on whatever they’re working on.”
Blake Center will create space for Upper School Art dedicated to sculpting, ceramics, and digital and visual art. Currently, Upper School Art is located on the first floor of Broyles by Broyles Field; the new spaces provided for Upper School Art in the new building will be more accessible to students and give them even more chances to be creative.
WCAT’s current location in Askew Hall’s basement has Head of WCAT Daniel Searl eagerly anticipating the arrival of WCAT’s new studios and control rooms in the new building. “There will be a new Studio W, our film group studio, a control room for the tech side of things, and a larger studio [for] weekly broadcasts [and] interviews with lighting grids [and] curtains that can change color,” he says.
IT and Security Relocation:
Boyd says plans have also been made to move IT and security to Blake Center for easier access. “One of our goals in IT is making them accessible to the Middle School and Upper School, so you run into [them] on the way to places,” she says. “IT will be [right before you go] through the tunnel. Security—we’re still working on it. The number one goal for our security team is if you need help, security [will be] there ASAP.”
Moving Earth to Create Connections and Accessibility:
In addition to Blake Center, Evans explains that a quad is also being built to make the area outside Pressly more inviting. “We’re reshaping the quad. It had hills, valleys, and trees, and [after] it’ll be one large flat space, so you’re not tripping over anything,” says Evans. “The quad is this beautiful outdoor space [where] you watch student traffic patterns; they walk circles around it but never [go] in it. This grass [is going to invite you]. We [can also] gather the entire student body on the quad, which hasn’t been possible before.”
The administration wants to level the hill with over 1,800 truckloads of dirt to make the quad universally accessible, explains Boyd. “We’re building a pathway so stairs and ramps get you from George Woodruff Library to the quad, [while] also giving mobility-impaired access to the quad. We’re making it accessible to the Middle School, but we’re also making it accessible to every person who comes on campus.”
Evans says students will be allowed access to the new spaces in 2026, but there is a chance for 2025 graduates to see the quad. “[Graduation has] always been out on the front steps of Pressly,” he says. “But the quad had such irregular levels that people were sitting up there [and] down here. Now, imagine it flat. We’ll move the fence back as far as you can go, and when graduation’s over, pick it all up, move the fence back, and keep building.”
Green Council Concerns:
Although construction has outcomes crucial for several of Westminster’s innovation programs, some doubt whether the outcomes are worth the consequences. The Middle School Green Council is concerned about cutting down trees for construction and the Blake Center’s lack of LEED certification, an internationally-used rating system that sets green building standards.
Evans explains that more trees will be replenished than those that were cut down. “The tree plan was to remove the trees we needed to around the site and replace them with more trees than we took away,” he says. “The trees cut down were not especially healthy; many were growing this way and that, competing for sun. Tall trees didn’t have leaves, so the [new] canopy of the trees will come lower to provide shade and a nice visual piece.“
Evans says the new building will match LEED standards but will not have certification due to a million-dollar estimate of expense. He also says the certification means less, as LEED standards have become the standards for everything. “Initially, you wanted everyone to know you were LEED certified and met green standards, but the standards now [have] become standards for everything.”
Reaching the Finish Line and Beyond:
As of January 2026, campus construction will end. Evans explains that the construction footprint will be gradually removed from campus before then, but that time is yet to come. “Eventually, the site will get smaller and smaller over time. But, it [will] be a while before it does.” No projects are planned for the foreseeable future.
Blake Center is yet to be open for use, but students don’t have to wait to get involved. WCAT is a student broadcasting program conducted almost entirely by students and covers and streams events across campus. To get involved, 1) Contact Mr. Searl at [email protected], Mr. Simbaña at [email protected], or talk to students who are already involved to log into the Schoology page.